Autism is a developmental disability manifested by a noteworthy negative impact on social interaction and overall communication.  An autistic person normally possesses unusual behaviours as well as interests and finds it extremely difficult to pay attention.  He may also react to certain sensations differently.  Thinking and learning vary among those with autism.  Some may be very intelligent and may even be considered as gifted while others are mentally challenged.  The onset is usually at age 3 and lasts a lifetime.  Anyone may be affected by autism, in spite of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic group.  Boys, however, are more likely to exhibit autism than girls.

Symptoms among autistic people may vary as some may be mild in one person and severe in another.  Generally, though, three main areas are affected.  These are social skills, speech, language and communication, and behaviors and routines.

People with autism do not interact with others the way normal people do or sometimes, they might not want to interact at all.  They may prefer to be alone.  Eye contact is also something that cannot be observed in them.  They have a hard time grasping other people’s feelings and they themselves cannot comprehend their own and share them to others.  Gestures of affection are strange to them.  Even if they would want to interact with others, they do not know how to do it.

Furthermore, their speech, language, and communication are indeed greatly affected.  Statistics show that almost 40% of autistic people has not talked ever.  Some, on the other hand, talk but tend to just repeat what others are saying.  This is a form of echolalia.  They may repeat the words right after or after some time.  Also, their voices are normally flat and they are unable to control the volume of their voice.  Two-way communication may not be possible as, if they do happen to talk, they tend to just talk about what they like and not listen to what the other party is saying.

A lot of their behaviors are repetitive.  They likewise enjoy endless routines as they prefer to know what to expect.  Thus, changes, no matter how simple they are, make them miserable.

Children with autism go through a different developmental process in terms of motor, language, cognitive, and social aspects.  Unlike normal children who develop in these areas simultaneously, they develop at various rates in each of the aspects.  For instance, their motor skills may develop similarly but they may be delayed in language and social skills.

There can be a lot of causes for autism but is generally due to an unusual interaction of the genes and environmental factors.  However, it is greatly genetic in nature which is proven by several twin studies conducted in the past.  Identical twins have 75% chances of having the same disorder while only 3% for non-identical ones.  Causes are pointed out to be heavily genetic but a lot of environment factors might further contribute to the condition.

There is no definite and known cure for autism.  However, a child diagnosed with it may undergo intensive education to be able to cope with the demands of day-to-day living and learn some skills that will help him adapt to his environment and live a better life.  Moreover, a number of medications may be effective for some in curtailing the symptoms.  Nevertheless, an education that is structured is still, by far, the most helpful.

There is however a discovery that emphasizes the significance of chelation therapy in treating autism.  Chelation therapy is not really a direct treatment for autism.  Instead, it can effectively treat heavy metal overload in the body such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and others which has been found out to be a major cause of autism.  Thousands of adults and children have already benefited from chelation therapy in the past decades.  Remarkable improvement apparently can be observed afterwards.  Chelation may be administered orally or transdermally in the form of a gel.

As mentioned earlier, autism is both genetically and environmentally caused.  This environmental cause may be the body’s exposure to mercury and autism became a result of the body’s overwhelming effort to detoxify.  Mercury may be brought in to the body in several ways.  Water supply may contain some levels of it.  Dental amalgams releases mercury vapour and such may easily be absorbed by the placenta.  The baby, then, may be affected as early as his days in the mother’s womb.  Several vaccines given to babies are likewise said to contain mercury like those for Hepatitis B, DPT, and Hib.  With all these and many others, it can be concluded that fetus and infant exposure to mercury greatly causes autism.

As chelation therapy has been known to combat mercury poisoning, it can indeed bring in positive results to those with autism.  However, proper diagnosis at the very start should be in place.  It has to be clearly pointed out first through a series of tests that there really is heavy metal overload in the body.