Novel Approaches into the Origins of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: The Fetal Physiology Foundation Over the past two decades, autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that is defined by behavior and was once believed to be rare, became recognized in increasing numbers of children and recently received distinction as an "epidemic" 1]. While numbers of affected children have steadily increased, our knowledge is still ins- ficient to explain autism's diverse causes and broad range of presentations. Despite remarkable progress in research, available medical diagnostic testing applies only to a...