Autism And MMR Vaccine Autism is a disease that affects an individual throughout their lifetime, starting during childhood.  In fact, this particular disease is usually evident by the time an individual is three years old.  It harms a person's ability to be socially independent and also to interact with others in the same way as a child without autism.  Not only that, they can also cause some repetitive symptoms in the individual.  There are several things that cause autism, including hereditary means, some chemicals and medicines that are known to cause birth defects and also the possibility of childhood vaccinations. Many people were concerned about the connection between autism and MMR vaccine.  The MMR vaccine is given to individuals during childhood in order to vaccinate them against mumps, measles and rubella.  It is standard practice to give children this particular vaccine before they enter school.  During the late 90s, some concern was raised about the possibility of the MMR vaccine actually causing autism in individuals.  Here is a little bit of information about what the government said along the lines of that particular reasoning. The first test that was done about autism and MMR vaccine was completed in 1998.  It was a very limited study that apparently only involved about a dozen individuals.  Not only did they say that the MMR vaccine increased the possibility that a person would develop autism, it also stated that it frequently caused bowel problems that led to the autism.  In some of the children, the autism appeared before the symptoms of bowel disease.  Additional studies that were run several years later apparently did not have the same results. So what is the verdict?  According to the government, there is no correlation between autism and MMR vaccine.  They are stating that it is much more important to be able to be vaccinated from mumps, measles and rubella then the slight risk of autism being caused.  Each individual will have to come up with their own conclusion on the matter, but as for now the MMR vaccine will continue to be given.

Autism Fact #1 Because of the special way autistic minds function, normal teaching methods don't work. Understanding how the autistic mind functions, allows you to take advantage of this functionality to provide specialized teaching that will help young autistic minds learn much more rapidly than they could with standard teaching methods.

Autism Fact #2 The autistic mind tends to function in a visual manner. Specialized teaching for autism makes heavy use of pictures. Using words to describe something is nearly useless. Providing pictures of what you are describing is much more successful. Even better though is taking the child to see the actual item or place being described.

Autism Fact #3 Take advantage of the natural skills an autistic child may have, instead of focusing on weaker points. It is interesting to note that although autistic children tend to be visual and are often very good at drawing, they can also be very good with music. Take advantage of this by creatively using music and art as part of teaching other topics.