Published on 12, July, 2020
Suppose you have the funding and technical skills to carry out autism research (e.g., questionnaires, qualitative interviews, MRI, EEG, behavioural experiments, virtual reality, etc). What kind of research question would you like to ask? What autism question do you think is still not well known, and what would be your solution to solving it, or extend current knowledge?
Alot of autistic adults that I have spoken to believe that you are born with autism as it occurs as the brain develops in the womb, however the NHS and many other places state that environmental factors play a part as well as health at birth.
I would like to see further research into children who have had severe birth trauma or early onset sepsis and possible link between this and autism.
What I've heard form most people is that it's an interaction of both genetic and environmental factors. But, yes, it would be very useful to know exactly what those factors are. I think there are some teams that are looking into difficult births, birth trauma, and preterm birth and the effects they have in future life, but it requires establishing a very large database, and waiting for those children to grow up to be able to track them as they develop, so maybe we will know more several years later as these studies become more available and give new insights.
If I recall, that reference to environmental factors got there as a node to MMR scare. It was added in full MMR histeria.
There was this case with some girl who regressed and developed 'autism like symptoms' after vaccinations. There was research and a court case where 'thimerosal' in vaccines emerged as the toxin at the centre of a controversy. Then it was demonstrated that thimerosal is not actually in modern vaccines. I didn't follow the ins and outs, but now this vaccines being the 'environmental' factor' idea is completely discredited.
I am as yet undiagnosed but after discussing things with distant relatives then I know:-
1. Hand movements is a Paternal Family trait as well as other physical markers.
2. I know my father, two brothers and several sisters were probably on the spectrum (as I have some common traits).
3. I am also sure I have a few spectrum traits from my maternal side too.
It is these than make us who we are - nature not nurture - whilst some environmental/development triggers may make us more prone to the outcome later in life due to the lack of knowledge and coping mechanisms.
For me any research needs to be broken down into areas (five senses for example) and then build a questionnaire and group to survey. Maybe from this the range for say touch (types of human contact, clothes, weight of cover, etc including environment) can be measured and some common/unique issues defined.
I am pretty sure I have little or no triggers for touch, smell or taste with my main ones being audio-visual.
There also needs to be IMHO more visibility of the various subtleties within the TV/Film/Media - I know Chris Packham is someone I now have some empathy for with some common traits with me.