Autistic children have unusual patterns of interest, activities and behaviors. They may only play with two of the 20 toys they have, or may insist on eating the same foods at every meal.

"They have this need for sameness," Humberd said.

Some highly-functioning autistic adults describe their experiences in detail, like Donna Williams, who wrote the book "Nobody Nowhere."

Williams described her routine when waking up each morning. She became fixated on dust sparkling in a beam of sunlight coming through her window. Nothing else existed. Not even she existed, Humberd said.

"Once they're stuck in this sparkly dust world, they can stay there a long time," Humberd said.

Stephen Edelson, a doctor at the Center for the Study of Autism in Salem, Oregon, who has studied autism for 25 years, wrote that autistic children are often unable "to realize that other people have their own unique point of view about the world."

Based on her research and her experiences raising Kolin, now 4 1/2, Sovern offers a way to relate to an autistic child's world.

"Imagine you had put on eyeglasses that magnified your vision 100 times and amplifiers by your ears and you were put in a room with bright lights and loud sounds for a day, then drank 10 pots of coffee and tried to walk through the world," she said. "These children's perception of reality has been altered completely."

Many autistic children develop self-stimulatory behaviors, such as rocking, hand-flapping, rubbing their skin, making certain sounds or blinking repetitively.

"You try to find the thing that comforts you," Sovern said.

Causes

"We've been struggling with finding a cause," Humberd said.

Edelson and Humberd agree that a single cause of autism remains unknown. Evidence indicates a genetic influence, as demonstrated in identical twins (who share identical genes) both developing autism at greater rates than fraternal twins (who share half of the same genes).

The genetic link to autism may come from three to five specific genes, or it may be a genetic disposition to a weakened immune system, Edelson said.

A virus may cause autism, Edelson said. Exposure to rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy increases a woman's risk of having an autistic child. Viruses in vaccines, "such as the measles component of the MMR vaccine and the pertussis component of the DPT shot, may cause autism," Edelson said.

Researchers are investigating whether environmental causes, such as pollution, can cause autism. High rates of autism in small communities such as Leomenter, Mass., and Brick Township, New Jersey, indicate environmental factors may cause autism.

Sovern's experience leads her to a conclusion that thousands of other parents of autistic children have reached: mercury poisoning caused her son's autism.

"His shots, without a doubt in my mind, were the cause," she said.

Kolin had TRiHIBit, MMR and IPV vaccinations all at one time.

"All these shots have their own mercury load," Sovern said.

The mercury is found in thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, which is 49 percent mercury, Sovern said.

According to a May 2003 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, "all routinely recommended infant vaccines currently sold in the United States are free of thimerosal as a preservative and have been for more than two years."

The report's primary assertion is that there is no relationship between thimerosal and autism.

"I'm convinced that the MMR is not a cause of autism," Humberd said.

He pointed to a Denmark study that compared 500,000 vaccinated children with 100,000 unvaccinated children and found the rates of autism in each group the same. Dr. Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, first applied the term "autism" to a specific condition in his famous 1943 paper on the subject.

"If you look back at Leo Kanner's time, before we had the vaccine, we had children with autism," Humberd said.

As much evidence as there is against it, Sovern said there is plenty of evidence that vaccinations and mercury poisoning can cause autism. Chat rooms on the Internet are filled with parents who share Sovern's belief.

"The mercury was poisoning his body," she said. "His body was in autoimmune response."

That a genetically-weak immune system may contribute to autism, as Edelson said, supports Sovern's theory. Children with healthy immune systems can process mercury and other toxins more efficiently, while for Kolin and others, the toxins build up in the liver, causing severe problems. Kolin had a blood test that determined he was arsenic, lead, aluminum and mercury toxic, Sovern said.

"The stuff you and I would just get rid of, he couldn't get rid of," Sovern said.

Stacy Smith Segovia's report on autism will continue next week with a look at treatments. Readers who wish to comment can reach her at 245-0237 or by e-mail at stacysegovia@theleafchronicle.com.

Originally published Tuesday, July 15, 2003