A review of the current literature suggests that genetic factors play an important role in the etiology of autism. It is likely that the etiology of currently idiopathic cases of autism will be shown to be heterogeneous, just as the few known etiologies are both environmental and genetic. Moreover, we would speculate that within the group of cases shown to have genetic etiologies, more than one genetic locus will be found. Some evidence suggests that quite often it is not autism itself that is inherited but rather some genetic abnormality of language or sociability that interacts with other factors to produce autism. (Folstein, S. E. & Rutter, M. L. (1988) Autism: Familial aggregation and genetic implications. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 18(1), 3-30.0
Google alerts me every day to articles emerging about autism. Many of those articles allude to papers published calling attention to possible genetic causes of autism.
Susan Oyama writes about the challenges our society creates confusing genetic and environment causes, nature and nature, by often really thinking in terms of genetics but stating both are in play. If feels to me that this is often an issue in autism research. We understand so little the impact of ontogeny upon unique conditions that we instead concentrate on genetics which looks like a code to decipher, not a pattern to resolve.
Understanding ontogeny as evolutionary as its foundation, perhaps we can reinterpret autism as an evolutionary condition and then see how genetics are in play.
