If your family is touched by autism, you may want to get to a newsstand and pick up the May 15, 2006 issue of Time Magazine. The cover article is "New Insights Into the Hidden World of Autism." It is actually a cluster of articles and gives an interesting and balanced introduction into the autistic spectrum.

The Anatomy of an Autistic Brain inset is fascinating to those of us who like learning the incredible things neurologists are finding out about various disorders that were once thought more psychological than physical.

Once a topic hits Time it is definitely considered mainstream. And it is heartening and fascinating to watch autism emerge into the mainstream. There are thousands of autistic children in the United States, infact is numbers three times more than juvenile diabetes and more than childhood cancer as well. The CDC's own figures state that 1 out of 166 children born today will fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum. That's huge. Most of us, through our children's schools or our churches know well more than 166 children -- so we all know someone who is autistic.

Here are some other article details that parents of autistic children undoubtedly already know, but it is encouraging that the American public is now aware of:

- autism is a spectrum disorder and much like cancer is many diseases with many distinct causes. Doctors now refer to it as autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

- the classic symptoms of odd behaviors, such as spinning, head banging, repeating phrases are not "hard-wired" into children on the spectrum, but are coping mechanisms for dealing with the anxiety of taking in the world.

- many ASD children do not exhibit the "classic" symptoms of a lack of emotion, inability to love, or mental retardation, which are believed to be caused by impaired communication, a symptom ASD children DO exhibit.

- most researchers believe that autism is caused by a combination of genetic vulnerabilities AND environmental triggers. Studies show that vulnerabilities run in families, but the rapid increase in the number of autistic children indicate that environmental triggers are a part of the equation. You can't have a genetic epidemic.

- research is showing that the immune system may play a crucial role in autism, which is leading to some new interventions.