Innovations in autism special issue

Alarming new figures that show a dramatic increase in the rate of autism in children highlight the need to identify the cause of the disorder, according to David Austin, editor of this special issue of the E-Journal of Applied Psychology. In 1943, Leo Kanner wrote the first paper reporting on 11 cases of a seemingly new disorder that would come to be known as autism. In the 60 plus years since that paper, many theories of cause have been advanced and countless therapies tried and, yet, the tragic position we find ourselves in right now is that autism is of unknown aetiology and there are no treatments that may validly lay claim to cure or recover. It is in response to this knowledge vacuum that the “Innovations in Autism’ special issue was born. We have purposely set out to publish a range of papers that address autism in ways that are not commonly seen in the scientific literature. For example, amongst the articles of this edition you will see a cogent argument for an aetiological role for electromagnetic radiation, oxidative stress, early infant nutrition and intestinal microbial aberration. Although the evidence for such perspectives are often modest, the current lack of understanding of autism, and the health industry’s far from impressive record with regard to treating it, suggest that we are in no position to be closed-minded about this devastating childhood disorder