Autism revealed by the blink of an eye

Long Beach, N.Y. — How often children with autism blink is giving doctors new insight into how their minds work.

Two of Mike and Laura Ciavolino's 7-year-old triplets have autism.

Like most children with the disorder, both have trouble identifying emotions in others. They also are more likely to focus on objects than people.

"There's a difference in the way they focus compared to my son who doesn't have autism, and there's a difference in what they're focused on and what they're interested in," Laura Ciavolino said.

Researchers studied the rate at which children with autism blink to see exactly what their brains are focusing on.

"The less a child blinks, the more they are paying attention to what is happening," explained Dr. Warren Jones, with the Emory University Marcus Autism Center.

Researchers tracked the blink rate of children watching a video of other children playing.

During emotional scenes, the rate for children without autism slowed, while children with the condition blinked normally. That changed when children with autism spotted movement.

"They stopped blinking when they were looking at objects and when they were looking at objects in motion," Jones said.

Researchers said this new insight into how the mind of someone with autism works could help improve therapies.

"What this research gives us is a new tool for essentially understanding what might be capturing the attention of children with autism," Jones said.

Knowing what interests children with autism could eventually help doctors identify and treat those with the disorder earlier.

"Children who receive early intervention for symptoms in autism are reported to have the greatest gains in function," said Dr. Alycia Halladay, director of environmental science research for the nonprofit Autism Speaks.

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Since Monsanto controls the majority of seed production in the U.S., almost everything you eat is genetically modified. My husband has begun starting our own seeds for our garden, using heirloom seeds he purchases online. In other words, seeds that are not genetically modified. As for diagnosing autism early, delayed speech is only one of many symptoms, and on it's own, not that high on the list. I knew something was wrong with one of our grandsons when he was just a few months old. And as he got older, it became much more apparent. One big tip off is kids with autism don't *point* at things the way normal babies and toddlers do. And grandson continually focussed on *wheels*, spinning wheels on little cars and trucks and staring at them intently. So many more symptoms. :( I firmly believe it begins inuetero, and it's something in our environment, meaning food, plastics, maybe even the microwave.

anastasia
December 21, 2011 1:28 p.m.

It's the vaccines. No "Natural born" Amish has ever had autism. There have been 2 cases from the Amish whose children had autism and both were adopted and had their vaccinations prior to adoption. Amish do not inject anything in their body. I know, it's not conclusive, but combine all other information, I choose vaccines to be the cause.

freedom monkey
December 21, 2011 9:54 a.m.

dbop90, I wonder the same thing. Autism can be hard to diagnose but it does seem like there's more of it. Another thing that is easily diagnosed - meaning, it may be hard to pinpoint but there's no mistaking once pinpointed - is food allergies and asthsma (sp?). IOW, the child can't fake those and the parent can't overreact.

I wonder about GMO food, especially corn that is so ubiquitously turned into high-fructose corn syrup (try finding soda made with sugar these days), and consumed indirectly by human consumption of dairy, meat and eggs from animals fed GMO corn. The worst thing is, it doesn't have to be labeled GMO.

I don't have any proof and not going to research it today, but I don't knowingly eat the stuff either.

storchheim
December 20, 2011 2:45 p.m.

thewayitis -- Agree on the demands and expectations on young children. As far as labeling, I think it's fine as long as it's done nonjudgmentally and can produce helpful interventions. Labels are required to get services that help those children. It would be nice if people started looking at labels such as "autistic" or "dyslexic" as if they were as neutral as "left-handed" or "musically gifted" -- labels describing some special trait or ability of the person, an ability that might need some special teaching methods but is not a bad thing in and of itself.

NC Reader
December 19, 2011 1:56 p.m.

Early intervention is tough -- sure, it helps some kids, but I think some kids end up prematurely labeled, when they don't really have a problem. My son was a late talker. I never worried about it, because my brother was a late talker, too, and luckily I had a doctor who didn't try to push me into treatment. I think many modern parents (I am a bit of an older mom with younger kids) are too quick to have their kids diagnosed. I understand why, and I totally get that I may be off base on this, but sometimes I wonder if a reasonable number of kids are also harmed by early labeling. I think it's a society issue, too, and that modern society has placed too many demands and expectations on young children.

I am intrigued by the possible environmental impact as well. That could explain a lot of things. But I think our dear government is not going to be eager to jump into the consequences of poor food production, chemicals, and labeling.

thewayitis
December 19, 2011 1:28 p.m.