It's Autism Awareness Month; do you know the warning signs?

The University of Kentucky hosted the state's first Light It Up Blue event by illuminating Memorial Hall with blue lights on April 2nd, and this event is a unique global initiative that kicks-off Autism Awareness Month and helps raise awareness about autism.

This is the sixth year for Light It Up Blue, but the Autism Society has been celebrating National Autism Awareness Month since the 1970's in order to highlight the need for awareness about autism. Autism is increasing in prevalence, and according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 50 school-age children in the United States has autism; that number increased from 1 in 88 in 2012.

Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a spectrum disorder that affects individuals differently. Typically, autism appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others, says the CDC. While there is no known single cause of autism, it is treatable, and studies show that early diagnosis and intervention lead to significantly improved outcomes for families.

With individualized interventions, says the CDC, parents can minimize challenges their child faces. From birth to 5 years, children should reach certain milestones in how he or she plays, learns, speaks and acts, and delays in any of these areas could be a sign of a developmental problem. Therefore, it is important to talk to a doctor as soon as possible children display some of the warning signs below.

From the CDC's Learn the Signs, Act Early campaign

Kentucky is one of 12 states with existing autism care insurance requirements, meaning that private insurance must cover autism treatment. Fortunately, there are many treatment options for autism in Kentucky that can generally be divided into four categories: behavioral and communication approaches, dietary approaches, medication and alternative medicine approaches. Click here for a full list of treatment resources or here for more Autism signs and symptoms.

In addition to when a parent is concerned, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children be screened for general development using standardized, validated tools at 9, 18, and 24 or 30 months and for autism at 18 and 24 months. While autism spectrum disorders occur in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, they are almost five times more common among boys than girls, says the CDC.

In order to make sure your child reaches his or her full potential, it is very important to get help as soon as possible if your child shows concerning symptoms, according to the CDC's Learn the Signs, Act Early campaign.

Brains of autistic children develop differently, study finds

MRI image of young brain in study

Researchers have found significant differences in brain development starting at age 6 months in high-risk infants who develop autism compared to those who don't. The finding suggests the disorder develops over time and doesn't have a sudden onset, which is often believed to be the case.

"It's a preliminary, albeit great, first step towards thinking about developing a biomarker for risk in advance of our current ability to diagnose autism," said Jason J. Wolff, lead author of the study.

The study may be useful for journalists writing new stories about autistic children and their parents; April is National Autism Awareness Month. It raises the possibility "that we may be able to interrupt that process with targeted intervention," Wolff said.

Participants in the study, which was published online in the Advance section of the American Journal of Psychiatry, included 92 infants who have older siblings with autism and so were considered at high risk for developing the disorder. They were tested using a type of MRI at 6 months of age and had behavioral assessments done at 24 months. Most of the infants also had more brain-imaging scans at either or both 12 and 24 months of age, reports research-reporting service Newswise.

At 24 months, 28 infants — 30 percent — fell into the autism disorder spectrum, while 64 did not. "The two groups differed in white matter fiber tract development — pathways that connect brain regions — as measured by fractional anisotropy," Newswise reports.

Based on the way water molecules move through brain issue, fractional anisotrophy measures the way white matter is organized and develops. In 12 of the 15 tracts of children who did develop autism, there were significant FA trajectories. "This evidence, which implicates multiple fiber pathways, suggests that autism is a whole-brain phenomenon not isolated to any particular brain region," Wolff said. (Read more)

Vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella doesn't cause autism, so get your children immunized, UK doctor says

A University of Kentucky psychiatrist is encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) now that scientists have found no connection between the vaccine and autism. "I really want the word out there that vaccines do not cause autism," Dr. Paul Glaser, right, told the Lexington Herald-Leader's Mary Meehan.

Glaser's message comes after the British Medical Journal published a report debunking Dr. Andrew Wakefield's 12-year-old assertion of a link between vaccinations and autism. Investigators found that Wakefield "misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study," Meehan reports. Wakefield's assertions led to a substantial decrease in the number of children who got the MMR shot. In the United Kingdom, vaccination rates decreased to below 80 percent from 92 percent.

The first dose of the MMR vaccine is generally given to children when they are toddlers. The second dose is administered before children start kindergarten. (Read more)