Presented by: Martha Herbert
Date: Thursday, October 23, 2008
Time: 10:45am - 12:00pm
Session: Keynote 2

Outline of Presentation
While autism has been considered a genetically determined brain-based disorder, it is becoming apparent that autism spectrum disorders are heterogeneous, have environmental triggers and involve the whole body system.  It may be that the brain is not a primary target of the factors causing autism, but rather is affected in parallel with or even perhaps downstream of impacts on the body.  Moreover, many physical features in autism could be a result of environmental and not just genetic impacts.  The growing number of autism diagnoses is occurring n the setting of accelerating environmental deterioration, and may well be a consequence of the same problems.  If autism represents a warning sign of more widespread environmental injuries, it is important to take this challenge serioiusly.  Underlying scientific mechanisms will be presented to help make sense of how to approach these challenges.