I grew up with TV and I don't have Autism!

Autism is an epidemic, 1 in 150 kids in the United States are diagnosed along the Autism spectrum. Yet there are 149 other people out there who do not have Autism, may not even be diagnosed with ADHD, and may not even be diagnosed with other major social development disorders!

So those, roughly, 149 other people could rightly tell me, "I grew up with TV and I don't have Autism!" True.

Then why the correlation between TV and Autism? And if early childhood television watching is an impetus for Autism, then why do some boys and girls get Autism and not others? Why them? Why not me? And why wouldn't I get Autism now?

Well, I think it's like a lot of other disorders and maladies. Some people are affected by a disorder and other people are not.

Some maladies and disorders seem to more universally effect people, but others don't.

Take asthma for example, children may grow up in a smoking household and one child develops asthma while her sister doesn't develop asthma.

Children who grew up in areas where air pollution effected their lungs may or may not develop asthma. And so on with with other disorders and maladies like: high cholestoral, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and even something usually far less sever and more temporary like catching a cold.

People have predispositions to certain conditions like Autism or Asthma. And there can be various factors involved: genetics or diet or even certain times in our life.

Autism is now diagnosed by age three. Sometimes many of the various factors as to why a person has a certain malady are clear. Other times it is unsure why one person is predisposed to a certain condition.

But even when that is the case, we can still notice our relationships and noticing these relationships can help.

The relationship between a developing child under the age of three and the massive growth of cable television over the last forty years, and the increasing exposure that kids have to VCR's, dvd's, and kid's programming... and television shows in general. This is a relationship, between baby and TV.

And early childhood television watching does not have to be the only impetus for Autism, other factors are possibly influential.

But the epidemic growth of Autism does make many concerned parents and children alike wonder, "What relationships are influencing kids growing up with Autism and is there a possible prevention?"

When a young child, an infant, who isn’t as exposed to other harmful environmental factors and at least, the child's physical stages of development are being passed through okay, then what's influencing the epidemic growth of Autism? Basically, a young child could be having a relationship with a television that effects their mental development.

Who we hang out with effects how we are, when a child watches television, the way the television relates back to the child is different than a normal human relationship and the TV presents reality differently to a developing child’s mind.
Affecting the child's social development differently than the boy or girl would experience when the TV is off.