In The Politics of Autism, I discuss various ideas about what causes the condition. Here is just a partial list of correlates, risk factors, and possible causes that have been the subject of serious studies:
- Pesticides;
- Air pollution and proximity to freeways;
- Maternal thyroid issues;
- Autoimmune disorders;
- Induced labor;
- Preterm birth;
- Fever
- Birth by cesarean section;
- Maternal and paternal obesity;
- Maternal diabetes;
- Maternal and paternal age;
- Maternal post-traumatic stress disorder;
- Smoking during pregnancy;
- Antidepressant use during pregnancy;
- Polycystic ovary syndrome.
Researchers examined the educational status of a group of Medicaid-eligible children in Tennessee ages 3 to 8. Some of those children were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, meaning that they spent their earliest days coping with the health effects of opioid withdrawal. The other children were not diagnosed with the syndrome.
The children who faced opioid withdrawal as babies were more likely to be evaluated for special education services and, once evaluated, were more likely to be found eligible, according to the report, published in August in the journal Pediatrics. Most of the children's disabilities were in five categories: autism, developmental delay, "other health impairment," specific learning disability, and speech and language impairments
