Sources and Research Topic!!

Research Question: Autism is becoming more and more prevalent in the diagnosis of children who have mental disabilities. Although the link to what causes Autism is not known, the effort to find a cure is something many people are trying to accomplish. To find a cure, we must understand what is causing the diagnosis. What causes Autism and what efforts are being taken to find a cure?

Enzi, Mr. “Combating Autism Act of 2005” 109.2d. (2006): 109-318
This document has a lot of information about Autism and the legislature. It is from the Senate Report. The contents include many different areas revolving around Autism. Since Autism is becoming more prevalent in young children, the government is taking strides to find the cause of it. The report focuses on what the government is doing, the background information and the need for legislation, laws that are in place to protect those who have Autism.

Sigman, Marian, and Ruskin, Ellen. “Continuity and Change in the Social Competence of Children with Autism, Down Syndrome, and Developmental Delays.” Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 256.64.1 (1999): 1-142.
The information in this book focused a lot on the interactions of children who have Autism experience with his or her peers. It was a study conducted from the authors and presented a lot of information of how a child with Autism may act. The most useful section of this book was about the stability of diagnosis and intelligence of the child and also the nonverbal communication, play and language skills. This book does not provide any information about a cure for Autism or the cause but rather what interactions people have who are diagnosed with it.

Waterhouse, Lynn. “Developmental Trends in Cognitive Skills for Children Diagnosed as Autistic and Schizophrenic.” Child Development. 55.1 (1984): 236-248.
This book presents a lot of information about autism in children and schizophrenia in adults. It had a lot of general information about Autism and how a child who has Autism interacts with others. The Author generalized behaviors between people diagnosed with Autism and people diagnosed with Schizophrenia and how they can display the same cognitive delay. This article was particularly interesting in the fact that the research presented generalization of the two diagnoses as having very similar traits and one may lead to the other. The author presents a great deal of facts and knowledge through graphs that show her research she conducted.

Loomis, Earl A. Jr. “Autistic and Symbiotic Syndromes in Children.” St. Lukes Hospital, Division of Child Psychiatry. 25.3 (2003): 39-48.
The author in this book presented a lot of information about how children are diagnosed with Autism and how Autism may be linked from genes. There was a family that had four children and all of the children had Autism, the first child had the least severe and the youngest child had the most severe case of Autism. Children with Autism present certain words and phrases that they say at a certain time during development that lead to the diagnosis of Autism. The family experienced the same instances of all their children.

Gustavo, Roman C. “Autism.” Journal of the Neurological Sciences. 262.1/2. (2007): 15-26.
The cause of Autism is currently unknown. The author or this article presents information linking pregnancy and the diagnosis of Autism. He goes into great detail about certain things preformed during pregnancy can be the reason why children have Autism. Perhaps, eliminating those things during pregnancy can stop Autism being diagnosed.