Task 7  Overall Comprehension

 Watch a video clip “Rethinking Autism” twice and choose the best answer to each of the questions below.

1. According to the report, Americans who live with some degree of autism now reach _______.

A) 15,000,000           

B) 1,500,000

C) 500,000             

D) 5,000,000

Answer:_B_ 

2. Lisa Wirth felt as if somebody had died because her son Josh _______.

A) has autism and his future is so uncertain

B) cannot go to college and gets cholarship

C) is desperate for the treatment of autism

D) has no future to become a football player

Answer:_A_ 

3. Researchers believe that autism has something to do with _______.

A) a product used for cleaning

B) a woman's pregnancy period

C) a child's  development

D)a combination of factors

Answer:_D_ 

4. A new study suggests that _______.

A) 90% of cases of autism are caused by genetics

B) autism researches show a wider margin of error

C) environmental factors play a much larger role

D) genetics out weighs environmental factors

Answer:_C_ 

5. The ABC's news report is mainly about_______.

A) a reason why Josh has autism

B) a new direction in autism research

C) an answer the Wirth family is hoping to find

D) a fact that certain class of drug causes autism

Answer:_B_ 

Rethinking Autism

There is news tonight about autism that could signal a huge change in how we think about the nation’s fast-growing developmental disorder. Up to 1.5 million Americans now live with some degree of autism. And tonight the researchers are now starting to work right in the livingroom and bedrooms of children with autism.

This isn’t house work. These are researchers at wotk in the homes of children with autism. The Wirth’s family is desperate for answer. Oldest son Josh was diagnosed right after his first birthday.

“It’s devastating,” said Josh’smother Lisa Wirth. “I felt like some body had died. Everybody was telling us ‘Oh he is the future football player. He’s going to get scholarship at college’.And then you’re told he has autism and his future becomes so uncertain.”

So the Wirth enrolled in a study now tracking 1,200 families. When Lisa got pregnant again, researchers recorded everything she ate, medication she took, even a product she used to clean her home.

“What we believe is that autism isreally caused by a combination of genetic factors, maybe several genetic factors with environmental factors that are coming together at critical periods of development.” said one researcher.

For decades scientists believe most cases of autism, 90% were caused by genetics. But this new study suggests that environmental factors play a much larger role. Researchers warn that their results show a wider margin of error. But if they are right, this could open a promising new direction in autism research.

One possible environmental cause: anti-depressants? A separate study out this week found mothers who took certain class of drug called SSRI during pregnancy were twice as likely to have a child with autism. But what else? Is it food, medicine, chemicals? The Wirth have noidea why Josh, who was fives now, has autism, and his little brother Spencer does not.

“We are grateful that during the study and help that we are able to help give them some answers to find out what’s going on. “said Lisa Wirth.

Answers that their family and so many others are hoping to find.