To make matters worse, Dan's brother, Gregg and his wife, Lori, also had a son, Vinnie, diagnosed with autism. To Zoe it seemed like a curse. Most families can chuckle at their family traits, the pointy ears or turned-up nose that grandpa passed down to junior. But the Ireland family shares a more serious family bond. Between the two Ireland brothers, Dan and Gregg, they have three autistic sons.
Autism is a complex disease.
But doctors know little about why the brains of autistic people have such difficulty interpreting what they see and hear in the outside world. Some forms of autism appear to be linked to other brain disorders, such as fragile X syndrome, a type of mental retardation. But most autistic children have no obvious underlying disease. Even among the Ireland children the severity of autistic behavior is striking. Darcy has mild autism.