Pardo-Villamizar said:

These findings open new possibilities for understanding the dynamic changes that occur in the brain of autistic patients during childhood and adulthood.

Although they may lend themselves to the development of new medical treatments for autism, much more research would be needed to establish the validity of this approach.

This ongoing inflammatory process was present in different areas of the brain ...

The pattern of cellular and protein findings indicate they are part of the innate immune system in the brain and do not appear to be caused by immune abnormalities from outside the brain.

Dr. Pardo is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Pathology (Neuropathology) since 1999. He is co-Director of the Transverse Myelitis Center, Staff Neurologist of the Multiple Sclerosis Center and member of the HIV Neurosciences Research Group at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. His specialization is in Neuroimmunological and Infectious disorders of the nervous system.

Research by Dr. Rebecca Landa, director of the Kennedy Krieger Center for Autism and Related Disorders and principal investigator of NIH-funded studies of infant development and early intervention for autism revealed in March '04 that autism can be diagnosed in children as young as 6 months of age, when interventions have the most successful outcomes. She said, "Educating pediatricians, developmental practitioners and parents about the earliest signs of autism, and getting children screened as early as possible, is the key to improving outcomes."

I remember being at Disneyland a number of years ago and couldn't understand why a family went straight to the front of the line without waiting. Upon their departure from the Teacup ride I boldly approached the mother in the family of four. She said, "Our child is autistic."

Autism, like diabetes and so many other hidden conditions, is not easily evident to the outside world. But parents who "manage" day-after-day need support and empathy from the community around them. Hopefully, by reading this story, the next time you begin to judge "a perfectly normal looking family on the outside" as I did, reach out a hand of support instead.

To this point, "Dave from Tampa," who is Ben's dad, said:

Our 4-year-old son Benjamin is autistic, diagnosed about 2 years ago.

He is somewhat social, but is about 50% on the developmental scale (i.e. about 2-yrs-old for speech, etc.)

Ben is hypersensitive to sound, taste, and "non-movement" (i.e. waiting patiently).

We've taken advantage of Disney's front-of-the-line handicap passes because Ben will not wait.

If he is forced to wait, violent temper tantrums and self-injurious behavior result.

We, also, have gotten numerous stares, and even the third degree from insensitive Disney employees before.

People look at Ben and assume he is normal. When he does have a "melt down", we can all but hear the comments about our poor parenting and being unable to discipline our child.

Unfortunately, Ben is not normal, nor is it likely he ever will be. But he's enrolled in a special needs program and we have good medical care.

The "funny" thing about special needs children is that no matter how bad it seems, it can always be worse.

On the day, Ben was diagnosed, the developmental pediatrician wanted to run a whole bunch of blood and DNA tests to rule out other things (though he was pretty convinced the diagnosis was correct).

So as I'm sitting in the waiting room with Ben to get the blood drawn, feeling pretty sorry for myself and my son, a woman coming to check in for an appointment, wheels up her 10-year-old son who is severly retarded, unable to communicate, and probably unable to eat normally. In that 20 seconds it took me to absorb the scene, it hit me (like the proverbial ton of bricks) that "someone" was trying to tell me something.

Though autistic, Ben is healthy, happy, loves computer games, movies, running, and Pringles. He can give me hugs and regularly tells me loves me. His situation, and ours could be so much worse.

The best we can do is to get him the best possible therapy and love him twice as much.

Just another perspective of someone who seems to "soul-search" a little more than he used to.

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Pardo, Dr. Landa and other scientists around the world studying autism in order to help children like Ben and parents like Dave.