Childhood disorders

40%

More than ____ of people with autism have normal or above-average intelligence

impaired social communication and interaction & repetitive behaviors or narrow obsessive interests

ASD are diagnosed based on two main criteria:

1/68

# of 8-year olds estimated to meet diagnostic criteria for autism

4-5

____ times more boys than girls are diagnosed with autism

50%

_____ + chance a twin has for autism if their identical twin has been diagnosed with it

FMR1

gene that codes for fragile X mental retardation protein

PTEN

gene that codes for a tumor suppressor enzyme that regulates cell division

dozens

there are ____ of genes that lead to unique conditions in nearly every person with autism

tuberous sclerosis complex 1 and two

TSC1 and TSC2

50-60%

______ of people with fragile X syndrome have ASD

40%

_____ of people with tuberous clerosis complex have ASD

neurofibromatosis

children with a variant of gene NF-1 develop ______ in childhood

10%

______ of children with NF-1 variant meet the criteria for ASD

mTOR pathway

major signaling pathway for regulating cell metabolism, growth, and proliferation

altered sociability, anxiety, and repetitive behaviors

mouse models with mutations in PTEN show

drugs that target the mTOR pathway

potential treatment for autism:

rapamycin and lovastatin

drugs that inhibit the mTOR pathwaythat can help alleviate symptoms caused by mutations in genes like PTEN

2

the age that autism can be reiably diagnosed based on behavioral characteristics

4.5

Average age of diagnosis for American children

earlier

interventions are more effective the ______ they begin

objective measures

_______ _______ could help enable earlier diagnoses and interventions