The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is working on causes and treatment of autism. They worked extensively in this field and developed a new program called Autism Centers of Excellence program. It has two programs included in it: The Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment and Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism. The ACE program allows many researchers to work on same question even at multiple locations. Many specialists in NIH worked on Brain imaging to look out if certain behavior is because of some change in the structure of the brain.

Seed is doing research on various aspects of autism. They have done extensive research to bring out the link of autism spectrum disorder with given factors:

 

a. Evaluating the child physically and mentally.

 

b. Consulting mothers about pregnancy related issues.

 

c. Checking all the medical records of mother and child.

 

d. Doing blood test of mother, father and child.

 

It is believed that the results of these researches will give the better idea about the causes of autism, whether it is genetic or environmental. SEED is quite positive about their approach that they will soon find a treatment for ASD.

NIMH worked on the risk of autism spectrum disorder in younger child. The risk is much higher than it was previously thought. They have conducted their research on number of children out of which about 19 percent children were diagnosed with ASD by the age of 3 years. The number of boys with autism was 3 times more than girls. So, the study proves that the recurrence of autism is about 19% and not 3-14 as previously stated. They will now work on DNA of the children and try to find out about the recurrence.

AHRQ has undertaken a remarkable research on autism. They have shown that certain medicines and behavioral changes in autistic child can reduce the ASD related behavior. Two medicines namely, risperidone and aripiprazole, are quite effective in reducing some behaviors like aggression, emotional distress and hyperactivity. But it also had side effects like drowsiness and sudden weight gain. Researchers at AHRQ believe that further research is required to know the effect of intervention in children.

CDC has come up with the discovery that immunoglobulins and vaccines that contain thimerosal when provided to young ones or infants does not increase the risk of autism. They included about 1,008 children in their study out of which 256 were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and they found that exposure to thimerosal during pregnancy or in infants cause no ASD symptoms. Even girls and boys have no different symptoms.