Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Washington

Oct. 23, 2008 -- Here at Seattle Children's and the University of Washington, we have a number of studies, very exciting studies, going on, trying to help us learn more about both the causes of autism and how to change the developmental course of individuals affected by autism.

We're look at both the cause and the treatments, and we have a number of approaches that we're looking at. We have studies ongoing that invite families of children with autism to help us to learn about genetic factors that may have contributed to the disorder.

We have studies that are trying to push the boundary of the age at which we can identify autism, and the earliest age at which we can affect its course and development.

And we have clinical trials going on into which we're constantly recruiting. These tend to be older kids who are affected by autism, whose behaviors have gotten in the way of their progress. We have a number of medication trials that we've been pioneering, and there are many more on the horizon.

It's a very exciting time in the field of autism research as people recognized that autism is not the rare disorder that it once was, as resources come available for us to apply toward understanding the causes and treatments of autism, and as we learn from the exciting advances that are happening already and that no doubt will continue to unfold in the months and years to come.