The Role of Nurture over Genetics in Autism
Children with deprived childhoods become adults with smaller brains Autism is not just about genetics and environmental factors; the potential of nurture should not be overlooked. Today’s post was prompted by another follow-on study quantifying the benefit of nurture in early childhood. In the past I did look in depth at the long running US study called the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP). A similar study is the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) study. They are relevant to this autism blog because they quantify the benefit of nurture in very early childhood and more importantly the lack of nurture. Quantifying the Benefits of Stimulation over Neglect in Early Childhood You may wonder why all these studies relate to Romania. Under the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, contraception and abortion were forbidden, because he wanted population growth. Then in 1982 he decided that foreign debt is bad and must be paid off urgently; much of the country's economic o...