Thanks to our friends at Left Brain Right Brain for blogging about this article
[Source:  The Autism Science Foundation]
By Matt Carey
What factors are there that may influence a child being autistic? What might increase or lower the chances that any given child will be diagnosed with autism? These are obviously major questions within the autism stakeholder communities and the autism research community. There have been indications since the 1970′s that the prenatal environment might play a key role in some part of autism. The work of Stella Chess pointed to congenital rubella syndrome as a risk factor for autism. Since then other possible exposures during pregnancy have been identified, including thalidomide, valproic acid and others. But while these exposures point to gestation as the key period for environmental risks, there is no reason to expect that they are an exhaustive list.
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