1: Autism

In 1988, Dustin Hoffman portrayed Raymond Babbitt, an autistic savant, in the film "Rain Man." As a result, many thought that autism involved the ability to count cards and remember every airline crash. However, Babbitt represented only one point on the autism spectrum. Autism, a neurological disorder that appears in young children, has many different manifestations.

It's this vast spectrum of autistic conditions that can lead to misunderstanding. While some children with autism can recite airline crashes like Babbitt, others with autism seem to live in a world all their own. Some children focus on one activity or object with intense focus. Doctors can use a set of cues, including impaired social interaction, language development and certain behaviors to determine if a child is autistic.

As the number of autism diagnoses rises, parents want to know what causes the condition. Here we step into a minefield of misunderstandings. Scientists simply aren't sure right now, though it seems that both genetics and the environment play a role. One controversial theory is that childhood vaccinations play a role; actress/model Jenny McCarthy has become one of the many public faces in this debate, as she believes that children receive too many vaccinations in too short a period of time [source: Brady, Dahle]. Most researchers say there is no link between vaccines and autism [source: Vedantam]. In 2008, conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage made headlines by saying that autism was the result of lazy parenting, describing almost every child with autism as a "brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out" [source: Steinberg].

While the debate over the cause of autism rages, there's also differing opinions on how to treat a child with autism. Again, McCarthy made the news for claiming that her son made strides with a diet that eliminated wheat and gluten, though some doctors remain skeptical of the diet's impact [source: Good Morning America]. While there is no cure for autism, doctors use a combination of therapies and programs to try to remedy certain symptoms.

For more on these misunderstood brain conditions, see the links on the next page.