Can TV viewing cause autism?
An
autism diagnosis is something that every parent fears.
It can mean a life of self-contained struggle, limited growth and social incapacitation for a child, and there is no cure. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately one in 300 children in the United States suffers from
autism-spectrum disorders (ASD).
When an infant or toddler exhibits
abnormal social behavior such as refusing
eye contact, withdrawing from outside stimulation and obsessively focusing on a single object and shows slow, non-existent or suddenly regressed
psychological development in areas like speaking and understanding language, the wide variety of autism-spectrum disorders becomes a possible explanation.
Autism is the most severe form of these disorders, and an autistic child leads a fairly limited life (at least from an outside perspective), unable to effectively communicate, form emotional connections and manage the stresses of daily life. There are other, milder disorders like Asperger syndrome in which the child can live a more normal life while dealing with relatively manageable social problems.
Studies have shown that ASD affects multiple major
brain areas, including the cerebellum, cerebral cortex and brain stem.
A group of researchers out of Cornell and Purdue has focused on a very different possible cause:
television. And while headlines are announcing "TV Causes Autism," that's not an accurate representation of what the study found.
Here's what the researchers actually discovered:
- Autism-diagnosis rates began to increase dramatically around the same time that cable TV was introduced in the United States, and counties with greater access to cable TV saw greater increases in autism diagnosis.
- Autism-diagnosis rates have increased faster in rainier parts of the country.
The researchers behind the study believe their findings indicate that watching a lot of television before the age of three can
trigger the development of autism in children who are already at risk for the disorder, such as those who carry the supposed "autism threat" mutation on the MET gene. The study did not find that children who are at risk for autism will be saved from the disorder if they're not allowed to watch television.
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