Autism goes beyond the confines of cultures, crossing oceans and continents, and leaving no territory uncovered. More children will be diagnosed with autism each year, more than with AIDS, diabetes, and cancer combined.

Autism can often be detected as early as when a child is 18 months old. Children with autism experience the world differently from the way most other kids do. It is hard for children with autism to talk with other people and express themselves using words. They keep to themselves. They react to what’s going on around them in unusual ways. Normal sounds may bother them so much that they cover their ears and being touched, even in a gentle way, may make them feel uncomfortable.

They cannot make connections as easily and may have trouble connecting a smile with a person’s feelings. As a consequence, the autistic may have trouble linking words to their meanings and, in sensing things differently, they also respond to them in other ways, what we call “abnormal behavior.”

Observed autistic behavior such as hand flapping, tapping, and/or mouthing objects, toe walking, rocking back and forth, head banging, and vocalizing, along with the testimonies of various autistic individuals, have led researchers to believe that those with autism are either severely oversensitive, under-sensitive, or both, to outside sensory stimuli. Several abnormalities have been found in the autistic brain but many researchers debate what the connections are between these abnormalities and autistic behavior. Unfortunately, there has been an overwhelming reluctance of professionals to rely on the testimonies of autistic persons who are capable of describing their condition. This has delayed the quest to solve the baffling puzzle of autism.

Despite the questions on autism, each country and culture has made contributions in the form of creating programs and interventions for a disorder that still has yet to provide answers on whence it came and where it is going. One of such venues will be the 11th National Autism Conference which will be held on October 24-25, 2009, at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia. The conference will present programs, theories, and applications from various parts of the world that may vary in approach but have valuable nuggets of truth that can be applied in reaching out to the autistic. The event also seeks to make others aware of the complications surrounding the dysfunction so they may know how to understand and deal with autistic behavior.

We can only hope that future improved research studies and technology, as well as increased awareness and compassion in society, will help to improve our knowledge of sensory dysfunctions in autism.

We congratulate the participants and organizers of the 11th National Autism Conference and wish them success in all their endeavors.