Expert: James Michael Roan - 2/19/2006

Question
Hi James, can you give me any insight to whether autistic children tend to get sick more often than typical children? Also if you could give me some direction on where I can find this type of research....Thanks in advance, Kim

Answer
Hi Kim;

There is current research that correlates weak immune systems and autism. Some researchers point to the wealth of historical data on increased head size in autism.

I cannot recall any specific researchers' names but a quick search in Google of the following: autism "weak immune" returned quite few results. In my personal experience have had many parents describe their child as typically developing until they were hospitalized for some infection requiring an antibiotic only to react horribly and to become autistic as a result. These are anecdotes and not research but have been compelling information to me.

Kind Regards,
James