As with all conditions, we urge you to consult your physician about specific issues regarding yourself or your family. The cause is unknown. Autistic traits persist into adulthood, but vary in severity. Some adults with autism function well, earning college degrees and living independently. Others never develop the skills of daily living, and may be incorrectly diagnosed with a variety of psychiatric illnesses.
Autism belongs to a family of related brain conditions affecting behavior early in life.
This has been well established. This is 100 to 200 times greater than in the general population. Autism has strong genetic components. A few environmental associations have also been described. If autism were governed only by genes, then every time one identical twin had autism, the other should have it, too.