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        April 1, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- April 1, 2008 Autism - Unraveling the Mystery - Meet a family whose three sons have been diagnosed with autism. Fast Facts SOSA: Time for some Fast Facts! Autism is a brain disorder. It's associated with a range of developmental issues, mainly involving communication and social interactions. Some symptoms include language delays, social difficulties and repetitive behaviors. The first signs of this disorder typically appear before age three. Although treatment has improved greatly in the past few decades, autism cannot be cured. Autism - Unraveling the Mystery LLOYD: More than 25,000 kids in the U.S. will be diagnosed with autism this year. That's more than the number of pediatric cases of diabetes, AIDS and cancer combined! It's part of the reason why the United Nations declared April 2nd the first ever World Autism Awareness Day. The goal is to educate people about this disorder, which is still somewhat of a medical mystery. Last October, the American Academy of Pediatrics set up new guidelines to help doctors catch early warning signs. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us about one family's struggle with autism. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When Hunter, Nicholas and Zachary Gaston were born seven years ago, their parents were ecstatic. And for the first 18 months, the boys were typical toddlers. Then, something changed. LYNN GASTON, TRIPLETS' MOTHER: It was almost as if a switch, somebody came to our house and turned the switch off. It was almost as if the first 18 months of their lives didn't happen. GUPTA: Lynn noticed her sons were developing antisocial behavior that scared her. Hunter was licking the wall. Nick wouldn't speak. She went online and typed in their symptoms. LYNN GASTON: No matter how many times I changed the symptoms around or left one or two off, it kept coming back up as autism. GUPTA: But doctors at that time weren't coming to the same conclusion. Finally, when the boys were four, doctors confirmed all three had some variation of autism, a condition they were not familiar with. LYNN GASTON: It's not like you can look up autism in the phone book. I couldn't go to the Yellow Pages and find a doctor, and didn't even know what doctor to go see. GUPTA: The Centers for Disease Control has only been collecting data on autism since 2001, the year the Gaston triplets were born. And autism is difficult to diagnose. That's because the conditions and accompanying symptoms vary so widely. DR. GARY GOLDSTEIN, PRESIDENT, KENNEDY KRIEGER INSTITUTE: We don't have an easy handle on it. In autism, we don't have a test, we don't have a biopsy, we don't have an image. GUPTA: Although research points to genetic abnormalities in the development of autism, doctors still believe a trigger sets off autism in a child. It's the trigger that's the mystery. GOLDSTEIN: It's a combination of being genetically vulnerable and then having some kind of social or toxicant exposure that tips you over. RANDY GASTON, TRIPLETS' FATHER: There's something that's affecting all these children, and it's unfortunate that these families are left to their own device to find out what is going on. GUPTA: The Gastons are committed to getting their sons the best medical care possible. Perhaps more importantly, showing their children unconditional love. RANDY GASTON: The one thing he has to know for the rest of his life is that I did everything for him. That's what it comes down to. I did everything for you, buddy, right? Yes? Yeah, ok. You're a good boy. I love you. GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting. (END VIDEO CLIP) Promo LLOYD: To celebrate World Autism Awareness Day, we're going to be bringing you some special programming here on CNN Student News. You can tune in to tomorrow's program to see some reports on the disorder. And then head on over to our Web site, CNNStudentNews.com, where you can access our free curriculum resources.

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