Presenter(s): Scout Galash − Biology, Human Physiology
Co Presenter(s): Fountane Chan
Faculty Mentor(s): Robert Chavez
Poster 97
Research Area: Social Science
One in sixty-eight U.S. children is diagnosed with autism. The latest version of the DSM, updated in 2013, provides diagnostic criteria for an all-inclusive autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These criteria include mild to severe social and developmental delays among a variety of other symptoms. In recent years, a surge in diagnoses due to increased awareness of autism and its symptoms has resulted in what appears to be an autism epidemic. The broadened definition of autism has ultimately placed a broad range of etiologies under the same diagnosis. Research has indicated that the causes of autism spectrum disorders could range from a point mutation in a variety of seemingly nonspecific genes to insufficient synaptic pruning.
The heterogeneity of individuals with a professional diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and the discrepancies in what researchers have attributed to be the cause of ASD pose the question of whether autism is a spectrum of disorders or distinct, non-overlapping conditions. If the latter is true, research seeking to determine the causes of ASD must create more specific and discrete criteria for their subjects rather than studying all who fall under an umbrella diagnosis. Our research aims to investigate the potential for an array of disorders that, up to this point, have been diagnosed as an all-encompassing ASD. To do so, we will conduct a systematic review of autism research with ambiguous or inconclusive results. By analyzing the subject criteria of these studies, we hope to identify possible factors contributing to ambiguous results within autism research.