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Courtesy of the University of Missouri
Images like this helped researchers determine differences in the faces of children with autism, when compared to those without the developmental disorder.
We may be a step closer in understanding what causes autism, say University of Missouri researchers after finding differences between the facial characteristics of children who have autism and those who don’t.
Kristina Aldridge, lead author and assistant professor of anatomy at the University of Missouri, began looking at facial characteristics of autistic children after another researcher, Judith Miles, professor emerita in the School of Medicine and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, mentioned, “There is just something about their faces. They are beautiful, but there is just something about them.”
“Children with other disorders such as Down syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome have very distinct facial features. Autism is much less striking,” she says. “You can’t pick them out in a crowd of kids, but you can pick them out mathematically.”
When researchers took three-dimensional images of the children, they discovered autistic children have a broader upper face with wider eyes, a shorter middle region of the face including the cheeks and nose and a broader or wider mouth and philtrum -- the area below the nose and above the top lip.
Aldridge analyzed 64 boys with autism and 41 typically developing boys ages 8 to 12 using the 3-D images of each boys’ head. She also mapped out 17 points on the face, such as the corner of the eye and the divot in the upper lip. When the overall geometry of the face was calculated and the two groups were compared, she noticed statistical differences in autistic children’s faces.
Researchers also noticed even more differences in a smaller group of autistic children.
“They showed differences in clinical and behavioral traits as well,” she says. “That would tell us about multiple causes of autism.”
Aldridge says the images provide a clue to what happens in the embryo during the middle of the first trimester of pregnancy when the face begins to develop. It may help researchers understand if something environmentally or genetically is happening in the uterus during pregnancy that causes autism.
“This is clear support that the cause of autism is likely happening before birth,” Aldridge says. “This allows us to start looking at those hypotheses more directly.
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"It may help researchers understand if something environmentally or genetically is happening in the uterus during pregnancy that causes autism."
With due respect to the people who lived this horror, in a way I'm reminded of the racial phrenology of 1930's Germany by this study. I am a parent of an autistic daughter so this strikes very close to home.
One can see where this is going... Orwell's Brave New World is maturing faster than expected.
Not sure exactly what your fear is. Learning when and how children develop autism seems like only a good thing to me. Understanding its roots may allow prevention and will assist with early detection which means early intervention, always a good thing.
Early intervention is a good thing. No issue there. But ask yourself this: What also can happen if parents are told while their child is in utero that autistic features might be developing...
Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley, not George Orwell.
OldSchoolLatin - probably the same thing that happens today when parents are told their child has Down Syndrome or any other number of problems that are now diagnosable in the womb - some parents may choose to terminate their pregnancies; others will have the child but feel they are unable to handle the task of raising a special-needs child and give the child up to a family that is prepared to do so; and the great majority will be able to use the information to prepare for the challenges of raising a special-needs child, which means educating themselves, looking into appropriate educational and early intervention opportunities, and basically just be emotionally ready to handle what lies ahead.
Since so many conditions are now diagnosable in utero, this is not unchartered territory. And it goes without saying that one study of a possibility of facial features that are diagnosable only through scientific measurements hardly means that in utero diagnoses are around the corner.
Good catch HN!
I'll take the heat for the author screwup. mea culpa. Let him who is blameless cast the first stone...
On the other hand, when I see my daughter, whose behaviors are extreme, the very thought of "terminating" her in utero is repugnant. MO is correct that this is not unchartered territory, no argument there, but it is another step deeper in the realm of determining even before birth who lives and who dies...
OldSchool, no one would ever think of forcing the option of terminating a pregnancy on you or anyone else.
But in the end that is a personal family decision that is up to the parents facing the difficult decision. It is not a reason to halt scientific discovery. And someone else's decision doesn't denigrate your child or the value your child adds to the world.
Good luck with your daughter.
OldSchool, hope you don't think I was throwing stones. Wanted to point out the correct author in case anyone was curious enough to want to read the book. It is a good book, one of those often banned for it's mature content.
No its not another step toward in utero termination. I am asked to make these types of diagnoses often. I am also asked to determine etiology of various syndrome-based deficits in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Facial abnormalities can be very helpful in getting it right. If we observe something we know to be atypical, we refer these children for genetics screenings where they are measured very carefully for dysmorphic features. It would be very helpful if we were able to take a few measurements, run some labs, and correctly identify autism. The only thing worse than having a child with severe difficulties and extreme behaviors is not knowing what is wrong or what to do about it.
Thanks for the well wishes. My daughter is making slow progress. I am not opposed to scientific discovery. With each discovery though, one must look at where things can go with this new knowledge. It's probably obvious that I am opposed to the rampant terminating of pregnancies. There has to be a better solution than to throw away a life in those cases when the mother's life itself is in no danger.
HN thanks for the clarification. much appreciated
Just terminate till you get a healthy child. You keep doing this then genetic abnormalities will get weeded out and the need for abortions because of disease will become rare or non existent.
Since they were measuring school age children one would have to wonder if in utero diagnosis would be too vague due to the noise accompanying ultrasound visualization. Since the difference is statistical, the ultrasound noise could greatly reduce the effect.
I completely agree with this article. My son has Aspergers disorder. I noticed that he greatly resembled a young autistic girl that as lost in the woods for a couple of days, and an autistic boy who went missing but was later found..and he resembles this young boy....GREATLY. It's not a look so different from any other child, but they do look alike. I have no idea what causes Autism but don't believe it's caused by vaccines. My son was different even before he was born. He would stiffen up at times. then when he was born, when he cried...which was non-stop, he would do the same...stiffen up. I have never used drugs, nor been exposed to environmental dangers. Yes, it can be difficult to deal with Autism, especially when you don't really know what you're dealing with. But it's worth it. My son is incredible and he is brilliant, and has a good heart and he is very loving.
OldSchool - From my reading of the article, it doesn't seem like anyone is trying to diagnose autism in the womb to allow parents to terminate the fetus. These are 3D images taken of children sitting perfectly still. Good luck getting those images of a fetus in the womb in the 1st trimester. The point the study is making is that whatever happens in the womb to cause autism appears to be happening in the first trimester, which leads to the facial differences. This is important because it will help the doctors rule in/out things that happen during certain periods of pregnancy. It appears you are maybe focusing a little too much on your anti-abortion agenda for an article that really has nothing to do with it. People don't diagnose Down Syndrome in the womb by seeing the baby's face, they do it through blood/genetic testing and the nuchal translucency test.
17 points on a child's face is not enough for me to label a child autistic. As usual the author does not say if the children were divided by race (that would make a difference in eye points) or if the children were all the same weight for their age, etc. When I read the article, I thought the same as OldSchoolLatinTeacher - of the tests the Nazi's used, specifically measuring the skull to declare if one were a criminal or not. Fingerprints change over the course of a person's life (3 stages). Now the researcher has a 3-D map instead of a measuring tape, it's still phrenology - The German physician Franz Joseph Gall in around 1800 formulated the theory of phrenology, which attempted to show that specific features of the skull are associated with certain personality traits or intellectual capabilities of its owner. This theory is now considered to be obsolete. - if these were CT scans, I would give the findings a bit more credence. Were the 'autistic' children the same degree of autistic? Where the 'normal' children really 'normal?' Who did the diagnosis, etc, who paid for this VERY LIMITED study? MSNBC should come back when these researches have a 99.999% success rate on thousands of subjects - and since it was limited to 8-12 year old children (male only as well), it has no bearing on a fetus and I doubt it ever will as their cranial sutures don't move together until they are over a 1.5 years old - hence their points will move as they develop. Real science please, MSNBC and I'm with Ryan, I don't want to live in a homogeneous world (I assumed your post was sarcastic, ryan)
ryan: Not sure how to take your post--either sarcastically or as a genuine statement of what you believe. At any rate, spontaneous genetic mutations occur even among those who could be categorized as "genetically blessed." I seriously doubt that we will ever "weed out" the problems and make such abortions rare.
Break out the cranial calipers, Herr Doctor.
VERY TRUE - one single cell, one DNA mutation caused by sunlight or other environmental factor, now we have a cell replicating over and over it's new DNA - faster than the original and far more dangerous, a cancer cell.
Children get about 20 shots and they want to increase them. Autistic kids have a lot of allergies i.e. wheat, soy, nut. Maybe kids are getting shots way too early for their bodies to adjust to them?
Oldschoollatinteacher: "Let he who is without sin. . . ." Subject, not object.
ryan and oldschool; regarding "terminating until you get a healthy child." Not only do spontaneous mutations occur, but some things that might not be considered beneficial (like autism, for example) are linked with traits that are. For example, some of our brightest physicists and mathematicians have been on the autism spectrum. A brain that is arranged a little differently can sometimes result in amazing things. There is a place in the human race for all of these little differences!
MKLND: Granted. English has been corrupted to the point of using the object form "him" in that circumstance. Most widely used Bible translations have gone that route as well...(using him).
Dysphoria: read my previous post 1.10.
Is that what your students say to you when they fail your tests...
Crazy logic here!!!
I wonder if works in court for a triple homicide case, LMFAO!!!
OldSchool- An ultrasound showed that my son had what might be a sign for Down's (oversized kidney). We were told we could do an amnio, but that it carried a slight miscarriage risk. We decided a wait-and-see approach would be just fine, and we'd keep an eye on him in case extra care would be needed at/after birth. I think early signs of Autism would be the same way- a few would decide they couldn't care for the child (one way or another), but most would just be happy for the early warning, and a chance to learn more on the subject before they're stuck sleeping two hours or less at a time.
I think the comparison to phrenology is not valid. The problem with phrenology is, simply, that the minor bumps on a person's head do not correlate that well with differences in the sizes of cortical areas and, more importantly, there is a very poor relationship between the external sizes of cortical areas and any particular measurable talent.
To put it simply, the problem with phrenology is that the measurement of bumps on the head was being used as a proxy for cognitive skills -- and that isn't valid.
The idea behind the current study is entirely different. Small differences in physical facial features are not being used as a proxy for cognition. Instead, the idea is that some of the same parts of the chromosome that influence brain development also influence the development of the face. There are well documented examples of that with other developmental disorders (although using Down's syndrome as an example of this is problematical because, in that case, it's a whole extra chromosome).
The implementation of this study isn't that complicated. It's a matter of making very precise, quantitative measurements of facial features and then using standard statistical methods to compare those values between two groups (autism vs typically developing). To put it another way, it's just math. It's not really a matter of opinion.
Unless you've actually read the peer reviewed paper, studied the data, and performed an expert critique of the statistical methods you aren't really in a position to say whether or not the authors are likely to be right.
I am now an adult with Autism - namely, Asperger's Syndrome. And while it's true that I had some of those similar facial features, this article bothers me deeply. Autism is not a disability. It doesn't disable the individuals from anything. It's a condition, meaning we have some conditions we need to overcome. But, the sky's the limit.
My concern with this is that there are so many ignorant people who wouldn't be able to understand that. Autism is a part of our personalities. It's not something to be cured, but treated so that we can fit in better with the majority of society. I firmly believe our ways of thinking to be superior in some aspects, and to put a physical and identifiable link to Autism will only fuel the fires of the ignorant.
Now people will want to look for this during pregnancy, only aiding in more abortions. Also, this will put a physically identifiable aspect to the condition, making it easier to pick us out. The joy of Asperger's is that people will never know I have it until I tell them something remarkable and unique that relates to it. Now they'll just keep their minds closed and block me and all others out.
Actually, they do look at the baby's face to detect Down Syndrome. The nasal bone is measured for development. Underdeveloped nasal bones are a strong marker for Downs (resulting in the distinct facial features).
OldSchoolLatinTeacher your critical opinion is misdirected. You should be upset with society, society is the one who points fingers and says what is "normal" and what is abnormal. The goal of science is to understand... the goal of society is to include and in many cases exclude based on gender, skin color, IQ, sexual identity...
Cuddle mom, the nasal bone indicator is combined with blood tests and maternal risk factors. The u/s of the nasal bone alone is not the entire test.
I have researched autism for over 30 years and this is not even believable. If you could identify autism by facial configuration, how would you explain Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome and other syndromes that have autism as a component of the disorder and have distinctly recognizable facial configurations? Autistic children have one facial characteristic in common; they are always innocent looking and usually attractive children. It is studies like this that confuse parents of autistic children into believing that there is only one cause of autism. Don't believe this stuff! It is another false premise.
Based on the criteria determined by this study, my daughter (who is not autistic, nor anywhere on the spectrum) has 'autistic' facial features and my son (who is autistic) doesn't. Interesting. Is it because she is a girl, or because of some issue with the study? I'd like to read the study results.
MAW-1297690-where do you get the idea that autistic kids have lots of allergies? My son is autistic, and has no allergies (other than ragweed), nor do the 15 other autistic kids in his occupational therapy group. Granted, this is simply anecdotal evidence, and should be treated as such, but I dislike broad generalizations such as "Autistic kids have lots of allergies."
@Nicholas Pellegrino - I understand your opinion as stated and your views on autism. However, it IS a disability in MY opinion. I have often read statements from people with Aspbergers who say that this is not a disability and that they would not want to change anything about themselves, but would rather others just accept their differences. If I were you, I'm sure I would feel the same. However, I do feel that while people with Aspbergers and people with Autism have some traits in common, they are not the same. Autism is a true disability. I say this as a mother of a child with Autism who is 9 years old. He cannot speak, read, write, dress himself, wash himself, or feed himself using utensils. He cannot stop himself from stimming both physically and vocally. He does not play like other children and he watches the same movies over and over and over. He has extreme sensory issues to many foods and so his diet is very self limited. He is also tall, lean, blonde, extraordinarily handsome, sweet, loving and humorous. Not a day goes by that I don't wish that the Autism would creep out of his body so that he could have the same shot the rest of us have, for a productive, independant life. That will never happen for him. I'd call that a disability. I'm studying his face closely. I don't really see his face as having the distinctions mentioned in the article. He looks like everyone else to me. But maybe these distinctions are more detectable by measurement than by the human eye alone.
To MamaBearoo- I understand your flustrations, but sometimes there mulitiple symptoms . Autisim is not the same in every person. My son also had language delays, social skill problems . When he was young the medical and educational systems were resistant to change so I went after solutions in a very aggresive way. One multi sensory dysfuntion was found to be present in my child, ie he would not eat but only had a fluid diet, could not bear to be touched. I was advised at that time to institulize him and put him on horrible medications. You know I never did that lol. One he had one year of multisensory therapy, which helped in so many ways . Another lots and lots of ways to help him get structure. Dont worry about the movies , he is instinctively restructuring how he see things etc. The human brain is a marvelous thing provided the tools it goes way beyond the limited sight of society. My child benefited from sight orientated aids also. Speech came after repeated attempts to get him to reconize structure of language after that we could not get him to stop talking. His first concrete step was seeing the same acorn in his hand with repeated patient atttempts of nameing the item. He is 25 now and has the coping skills he needs . Btw my childs favorite movies , Batterys not included . We went through 2 copies of it. If i could I would give u a big hug and tell you tomarrows another day.
Look to the Chemical Companies and the "legacy" they leave behind in our air, soil, food, and water. The complex compounds produced by today's chemical companies, world wide, is astounding to say the least. Chemicals which can mimic human hormones for instance. That's where I'll place my bet. When the government said it couldn't get the data on the chemicals used in Hydrofracking, I knew the chemical companies had plenty to hide. Halliburton finally capitulated. And when a resent report said that when a newborn's blood was tested for chemical content, it was discovered to have over 200 different compounds in the blood. What's that tell you?
Just to point out how scary this research is, you all are already talking as if this medical suggestion is fact. Oldschoollatinteacher knows whats going on. It's just like the masses of people who are misinformed and thinking that fast food definitely causes cancer, and as we speak measures are being taken to shut down the fast food industry backed by a small notion. You all are talking as if all parents can make smart decisions when we know a majority of people in the US have an IQ less than 90 and can't think for themselves.
I have Asperger's and I do not have these facial features mentioned in the article at all.
It's called Asperger's, not "Aspbergers". As said before, it is more of a condition than a disability, though we are protected under the Americans With Disabilities act. I get accommodations at school that help me enormously.
Other than that we are basically normal. We just have different brain structure and think differently. We do have issues, but those can be overcome.
Case in point, I used to feel terrified to look people in the eyes. However, I trained myself to look people in the eyes, because I wanted to act and feel more normal. Now, I only have issues with facial expressions, remembering not to hold eye contact too long, and making sure to remember to have "tact".
It's true, most of our most brilliant, genius minds have most likely been somewhere on the Autism Spectrum, or had brain anomalies. Albert Einstein's brain was removed after he died, and it was proven to be larger than the "average brain".
That being said, I hope that this new information does not lead to pre-natal tests to detect autism and Asperger's. 90% of detected Down Syndrome fetuses are aborted in the U.K.
Many people still do not known what Asperger's is or have a poor understanding of it. Not to mention the majority of stuff on Asperger's in the media results from poor Hollywood and TV adaptions and stereotyping (the movie Adam, "Assburgers" on South Park, and the character of Sugar Motta on GLEE!).
Though both are better known today than they were when my mother was pregnant with me, the thought that I may have been aborted if such tests existed is highly discomforting.
They are just trying to deny that vaccines are causing the problem! They want to place blame elsewhere! I'm with OldSchool on this one!
There is NO evidence that vaccines cause autism. Turn off Alex Jones and grow a brain.
antisheeple: I am not at all in the camp that believes vaccines cause autism.
Kristen, I've never even heard of Alex Jones. I don't think it's all vaccines. I think it's our environment, chemicals in cleaning products and in food. Vaccines are just for profit. They do more harm then good!
There is no evidence that vaccines cause chromosome damage or changes. Even with environmental pollutants or chemicals, they would have to create a mutation in your body which would then be passed to your children.
Those things may produce more immediate problems such as cancer or kidney problems, but not genetic changes.
There is no evidence of it.
My proof that it doesn't cause it is this: My nephew is autistic. He got the vaccines. He goes to a special school. Half of those other kids in his school didn't get vaccines. They're still autistic. They all got sick because they didn't get them.
Again, no vaccines = still autistic, just getting whooping cough and other illness that could have been prevented.
I don't even get why someone would believe vaccines would cause autism. Even the most layman of people about medical issues would understand that genetic mutations don't happen over night. You can't get a shot and become suddenly autistic.
anti, vaccines have saved millions, if not billions, of lives. Getting rid of smallpox in the human populace is one of the greatest things that mankind has achieved. The flu vaccine saves thousands of lives each year. How are vaccines doing more harm than good?
Until I see a scientific study on the effects of vaccines that proves that vaccines are doing harm, I will dismiss this claim just like I dismiss the claims of impending doomsday.
Tony,
Parents of autistic kids have a really difficult path to tread. There is simply no respite and they know they will have to care for this child for the rest of their lives. They also know that the child will, more than likely, survive them and will need constant care after they are gone. If they can blame someone, especially someone like big pharmaceuticals, and somehow convince the legal system that big pharma damaged their kids, perhaps they could get a monitory settlement to help out with the expenses, long term care and heartache they are going to experience. I do not agree with this strategy and find it to be disgusting. Let's blame someone, sue them and make some money. Ah, if only all of our problems could be solved so easily.
antisheeple- you are commenting on (and I assume you actually READ) an article about distinct physical features related to people with autism, and you come up with 'vaccines cause autism'. for someone who apparently is opposed to sheeple, you obviously haven't noticed/realized that you are, in fact, very much a 'sheeple' yourself
baaad vaaaaccines...
Umm, vaccines do NOT do more harm than good. My son contracted meningitis at 2 months of age. He had received only the first of 3 vaccines against this deadly condition and caught it from some unvaccinated germ factory. We were lucky--he survived with no effects, but many children are not so fortunate and either die from the disease or end up with brain damage and other effects of the disease and the massive antibiotics needed to combat it. Facts matter. Reason matters. Intelligence matters. Start listening to people who understand those concepts.
sheeple posts on lots of stuff...and manages to piss off people all time......try to ignore them.
Sheeple, are you a troll or do you seriously believe the tripe about vaccines causing autism? Statistical data shows a huge rise in autism between the early 90's and now, so that would indicate something more recent than vaccines causing autism. You might as well blame compact discs, computers, microwaves, newer food additives, Monsanto's genetically engineered soybeans, etc. because there is just as much evidence [none] for those things being at the root of autism.
Hang in there antisheeple. you are not alone. According to the CDC, 1 in 70 boys in the US are now diagnosed with Autism. There's been a 600% increase in autism over the last 20 years. This is stunning. Autism clusters have been reported in CA and Minneapolis, Minnesota where 1 in 28 US born Somali children have a diagnosis of severe autism, a condition rarely heard of back in Somalia. Children today are being exposed to something(s) toxic resulting in a host of developmental probelms which cannot be accounted for by genetics alone. So says experts such as Isaac Pessah from the UC Davis MIND Institute.
Instead of measuring facial feature, environmental exposure(s) is what experts should be looking for and that includes looking at the culmulative effects of vaccines on a young child immature immune system. Individual immune response varies so what good for one child may be harmful to another. Adverse reactions to vaccines can and do happen. The government has quietly settled many cases where children were seriously injured by vaccines resulting in lifelong disability. Hear their stories on ebcala.org
Soooooooo.....antisheeple, you'd rather follow the advice of an aging ex-Playboy Bunny and a physician who lost his license for falsifying medical studies? Makes you sound like the sheeple you deplore.
yankeegirl1: as the diagnosis of autism has increased, the diagnosis of mental retardation has decreased.....ASD is being far-better diagnosed than in previous years.
I have a son with Asperger's and I can say this. I would rather have and love him as he is, than have lost him to some crappy disease that you would seem to advocate. My mother had 4 siblings and only herself and her brother made it to adulthood thanks to these tragic illnesses that vaccines now prevent. You're pathetic.
And yankeegirl, perhaps the drastic increase in autism is due to a more accurate diagnosis? When I was growing up, we probably had just as many autistic kids, except there was no definitive diagnosis and they were considered "different" or any other number of mean or wrong names. Also, it was proven that the a**hole that came up with the vaccine / autism link deliberately falsified his reports. Again, pathetic.
Wow I admit to being sceptical when I saw this headline, but I have Asperger's Syndrome and happen to have full lips, a round face, and really big eyes so go figure!
antisheeple, I suggest you go and ask elderly people about vaccines. They will tell you about polio and rubella, and the deaths/crippling endured by so many. Polio is the gift that keeps on giving, as it has been found that survivors often have recurrent symptoms in middle age.
Smallpox vaccines are no longer given because universal vaccination has wiped out the disease. This is the true goal of vaccination, elimination of diseases.
People like you who refuse to acknowledge this are endangering yourselves and others. If the vaccination rate drops below 90%, there is a serious loss of herd immunity, which means that people who cannot be vaccinated, and the generally unvaccinated are at a higher risk of unnecessary disease, and fatalities will occur.
There are a host of unpleasant diseases I had as a child that my child will never have to endure because of vaccination. There is one vaccine my child will not need because of universal vaccination. Who would deny their child this gift?
There are times when going along with the flock is a good idea. This is one of them.
@@@@@antisheeple, Your screen name is antisheeple, yet you are one of these crazies who are standing in the way of the eradication of several diseases because you, like a sheep, buy into this vaccination theory? Please. Change your screen name.
This sounds like it could help parents get an accurate diagnosis at a younger age. When a young child has a speech & language delay, it can be difficult to know whether any social interaction difficulties are due to his/her speech & language problems or whether they may be indicative of autism. This is where we are with our 2 y.o. daughter. We're on the waiting list to see the developmental pediatrician, but it would be great if her general pediatrician could just measure her face & let us know whether or not she fits the profile.
The theory they are trying to point out is that whatever may be causing autism may be happening in the first trimester, since this is when the facial structure is mapped out. This study was not meant so much to diagnose 12 year old with autism, but to narrow the time line in the womb of when the cause of autism happens.
Whereas the point of the article shows that they are trying to isolate the timeline and cause for this trait, it can also be used to help parents, like myself, who is now in a war with the doctors because they say my son "Might" have Aspergers, but they want to spend all sorts of time and money putting him through the ringer to factor out anything else first, things like sleep studies for sleep apnea, ADD, ADHD, etc. Problem is, is that Aspergers children share several symptoms with ADHD, so I understand in part trying to find the "correct" diagnosis, my issue is that there are quite a few symptoms that are not shared with ADHD, of those my son has displayed, yet the doctors are trying to get more money to drag out the diagnosis. This simple method of "sit in chair, take photo, diagnosis photo, dianosis problem" is so much quicker than the long drawn out methods currently perferred by doctors.
In the end, it's better to know, than to not.
Crimson Wife- I also have a 2 year old daughter on the waiting list to see a developmental pediatrician. She isn't talking yet and her pediatrician suggested that we get her hearing tested, she did the booth test and also the sedated ABR, everything was normal. But our pediatrician had no clue what else it could be and she knows next to nothing about autism. Thankfully my sister is an Occupational Therapist at an elementary school for children with special needs and she told me that I needed to make referrals for an Early Interventionist. My daughter started seeing an EI within 2 weeks and her EI immediately told us that it may be autism and while were on the waiting list we've already begun Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy and we've noticed a big difference in her behavior. If you think that there is even the slightest chance it may be autism then I highly suggest you tell your child's pediatrician that you want to start early intervention therapies immediately, if your child has a speech and language delay you should at least qualify for ST. The best thing you can do for your child is get started early since this is a critical time for them developmentally.
So ridiculous it is'nt worth the grant ( if they did) they received to contrive this theory. The idea that they will be pushing forward fetal portraits is again so fraught with peril and false prenatal information is alarming. Another way to try and make some extra money? Another way to allude to the idea that autism is genetic? With the alarming increase of our children being affected this is an insult, true research to help these children is not receiveing the attention it should be. Remember this is a problem that has been growing in huge numbers over decades. The population of adult autistic children, who are still searching for a path in this society, is growing
This research may help in determining the cause(s) of autism. Knowing why will certainly help to reduce autism occurrence and help in its treatment. It does seem likely there is a genetic component to autism, but calling it an insult to try to find better ways to prevent and treat autism in an insult itself.
How is advancement in diagnosis and possibly learning causative agents (knowing when and how development is affected) a waste? Seems like solid research to me.
I honestly do not understand your anger here. If there is an identifiable physical characteristic associated with this condition, it can help lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses -- which in turn means earlier intervention and better outcomes. There is certainly precedent for physical characteristics accompanying a developmental disorder, so it is not such a ridiculous thought. And why so afraid of research that might help pin-point a cause for the disorder? Downs Syndrome, another developmental disorder, is genetic in origin, but fetal alcohol syndrome, also a developmental disorder, is environmental. Both of these have distinctive facial characteristics. Linking a disorder to a genetic cause does not "implicate" the parents in any way. No one blames the parents of a Downs Syndrome child. It is just one of those things that happens. Certainly no one thought less of my aunt for having a son with Downs. If the cause is environmental, however, then there is a chance that it can be avoided altogether. Wouldn't that be a good thing? We know fetal alcohol syndrome is caused by heavy maternal drinking while pregnant. It is preventable. If there was some environmental factor that could be controlled and eliminate autism so that a child could live a normal life, wouldn't that be a good thing? I'm not suggesting at all that autistic kids do not have every right to long and happy lives, or that they are incapable of achieving that as autistic individuals. But what parent would wish those particular challenges on their child, if it was not necessary?
Yes, the current population of autistic individuals need all the help they can get today, but, as you say, the population is growing dramatically. Why shouldn't there be research into the cause, too? If it is environmental and that risk can be managed, then there would be fewer cases and more resources available for those who need it. If, however, the cause is genetic, that is good to know, too. But we will not know until the research is done. So it is very much worth a grant.
What if it turns out that something hyper-vigilant moms and OBs are doing/recommending is the cause? Maybe complete abstinence from alcohol is NOT a ggod idea? Alcohol consumption for adults shows a J-curve, where drinking a little is better than drinking none for cardiovascular health. What if it's too much folic acid, routinely prescribed in both prenatal vitamins and in enriched foodstuffs? Focus on vaccines needs to be let go - it is clearly something that is happening before birth.
More than likely it's due to some kind of pre-conception change/damage to a mother's eggs. I don't think science is looking into the proper root causes.
There is something more afoot. I am the second wife to my husband. His first wife has remarried. The oldest son from my husband and is ex has asperger's syndrome. He is currently living in a group home situation.
The ex wife has a profoundly autistic child that she produced with her new husband. She is the common denominator. She has a history of thyroid cancer that was irradiated, and had surgical removal of her thyroids, but rarely takes her thyroid medication.
Sometimes her behavior reminds me of her asperger's son. So I wonder if she too has it. It has been a very challenging relationship with her, her sons and their family.
But anything that furthers discovery into early diagnosis and intervention, I'm voting for. The asperger's boy wasn't diagnosed until he was 21. By then he had been fired from 14 jobs. What a difference it could have made if only we had known.
My son has PDD-NOS and I was sceptical when I saw this as well...but actually, he fits the facial features they describe in this article.....
Now, if we could only get doctor's to pay attention and stop thinking everyone has ADHD...(like they did with my son for 6 years!)
I would have loved it if the docs thought my son was ADHD, but my docs just thought I was a bad parent. My son was eventually (10 years later) diagnosed as Asperger's, along with a host of other conditions (OCD, SDD, ODD and anxiety).
Terriels - I had to fight doctors, psychologists and the school systems (in 2 different states - because we had moved) for over 2 years before I could get a psychologist that was even willing to try and get the insurance company to pay for the testing!
I had a doctor tell me point blank that my son had ADHD because he had read his file (this was a new doctor)....Well, when I left the examining room a nurse approached me to have me fill out a form requesting his medical history - BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT! So basically the doctor LIED to me! Talk about being pissed off.....I was beside myself!
My son was officially diagnosed with PDD-NOS (which is right next to Asperger's on the spectrum), he was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and Sensory Processing Disorder....
Then, at the start of last year, a school psychologist told me she didn't agree with the clinical psychologist test and that her opinion was still ADHD....needless to say, she no longer participates in my son's IEP, etc.....
Good luck to you and your family! :)
@terriels: I was misdiagnosed with ADD, too, simply because when I first went to see my psychologist for testing, apparently the medical community didn't know much about Asperger's Syndrome. Thankfully, I was "correctly" diagnosed years later.
Considering that early interventions and therapy go a long way to improving long term outcomes with a diagnosis of autism... you would think that anything that provides an earlier diagnosis would be welcome news. Also... considering that even in a syndrome with more pronounced facial phenotypes, such as Downs, these facial features are not used for in utero diagnosis... but rather a chromosome test is employed... so you might be just a tad paranoid to find "evil" in this study...
Exactly.
What these people aren't getting is that a possible indicator doesn't automatically mean an official diagnosis or that the government is taking your child away.
response to Sick, read next to last paragraph.
How many more of you are going to buy into this bull? Thimerasol (mercury) causes is the main cause of Autism and the drug companies are all behind this push to make you think otherwise...look at the history of Autism and the 1000% increase when the govt made vaccinations mandtory for enrollment in public schools.
Then why isn't every child/young adult autistic today? Even if there was anything to that old-wives tale, it would not tell the whole story. Even if vaccines or some component thereof was a factor (and that is a pretty big "if" based on stringent, peer reviewed research), it would only be catalyzing agent that must activate some inherent genetic susceptibility. Vaccines have saved thousands of children's lives by practically eliminating what were once common, deadly childhood illnesses. Vaccines have done far more good than harm. But let's play along with your delusion for a moment. Let's say there is a link between vaccines and autism. As I mentioned, those children who have this reaction must have an underlying, most likely genetic, predisposition to react that way to it (or else, again, all children and young adults today would be autistic, since we were all given these vaccines). Perhaps further research based on this study can help uncover a genetic link between all these kids that could lead to the discovery of the origin of that genetic predisposition or susceptibility that causes a small fraction of children exposed to the vaccine agent to become autistict. This could lead to identification of at-risk kids before they are exposed, thus saving them. So even you - and every other vaccine-link conspiracy theorists out there -- should be supporting this research whole heartedly.
Allen-2635884, where is your evidence, considering every scientific study they have done has not proven any link, or did you happen to miss all those articles?
The original research on which all this thimerasol/mercury/autism claptrap is based has long since been completely debunked and discredited. The doctor who did the work based his report on something like 9 kids and he fudged with the data to get the results he wanted to publish. There were no controls of any kind.
Numerous well controlled studies have repeatedly falsified this claim, yet as we can see, many desperate folks still cling to the lie.
What do you need? Some famous blonde bimbo to come on your television and tell you this? Do some research. There is no drug company conspiracy.
This took all of 10 seconds to find:
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20080107/thimerosal-down-but-autism-rising
I would think parents/moms with autistic children would welcome and embrace this type of research. It will lead to definitive answers and hopefully spare future mothers the "nightmare" (as one mother above called it!!) of raising an autistic child. I suspect many moms/parents suffer from guilt thinking that they did something to cause their chlid this malady. They should not, for if they unwittingly did something during pregnancy or something is in their genes or lifestyle that led to the autism, it was because they did not know--science did not know because research such as this had not been done. Let's find the cause(s) and prevent the escalating cases being diagnosed.
Wow! I don't know the particulars of the woman who called raising an autistic child a "nightmare", but my friend's brother is autistic and he is the most wonderful person you would ever want to meet. His family wouldn't want him any differently.
What about said moms' autistic/Aspergian children, like me?
I will always have Asperger's and I appreciate having it. It's what makes me unique. Some "nightmarish" children, as you say, are otherwise gifted or normal aside from being quirky.
The vaccine angle is just a smokescreen. Do some reading on phthalates which are endocrine distrupters and are in EVERYTHING. Go into a baby store and you're notice that they are quietly being removed from products, by the manufacturers.
Phthalate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This comes as absolutely no surprise to me. I'm a parent of a child who was born with a genetic disorder. It is not autism, but has similar traits. Soon after birth we discovered many medical problems with our daughter and for the next two years just thought she had coincidental problems. It was at the two year mark when her doctor suggested we take her to a geneticist. In the waiting room the geneticist walked in and upon looking at my daughter's face determined what she had. She did blood work and confirmed a diagnosis of a chromosome problem. You or I wouldn't be able to see a problem with her look unless it's pointed out. Chromosome problems tend to have a similar look and facial features.
On the point of those trying to figure out what causes this and whether vaccines are a cause, I don't know. Neither me nor my wife have this disorder, nor anyone in out families, that we know of. According to geneticists this can happen randomly. We have never figured out where it came from so have to accept the explanation that it is random.
I think if we can help determine autism with facial features we can diagnose these children early and seek the intervention they need. I have toddler triplets with two in the autism spectrum. One of them showed severe signs at an early age thus we were able to get early intervention. He is a thriving, happy child who is high functioning. My other child though had less symptoms and I was told all his delays were due to prematurity. Thus he did not get help right away. He is currently struggling with his symptoms. My point is that IF there are certain facial features my other son's symptoms would have been addressed earlier rather than be dismissed by doctors and therapists. And yes, this theory, if proven, can be used to terminate a pregnancy. But as with many scientific advances, man will find good and bad uses for it. Does this mean we stop making scientific advances because we are afraid what other people might do?
That is fine about the features so what is the next step besides a "final solution" for the "useless eaters" which seems to be what these writers of these articles want.
There is nothing from the writers of this article to suggest any such thing. That this appalling thought is where your mind went after reading the article says something about you, however.
saddened,
Try lack of trust.
Your comment is crude, at best. When we had our two kids, we went for genetic testing. That was over 25 years ago. We lucked out but we were not prepared to bring to term any fetus that did not have a reasonable chance at health and happiness. It turns out one kid had problems with his gums and needed major hip surgery to 'fix' him later in life. That caused pain and it caused concern. It was not a cause to abort, even if we'd known about it.
On the other hand, having a child that would never read, walk, die early or need endless and painful procedures to continue to live is not a life I would want anything that I would grow attached to to suffer for. At that point, the life of the child is an extension of narcisism.
I hate this idea of looking into a womb to determine birth defects/learning disorders based on facial features,size etc. My precious granddaughter was viewed in an ultra sound,...downs syndrome was hinted at based on her size,facial features,and small her rate of growth.NUMEROUS pictures were taken over the course of MANY weeks..each time the diagnoses was more positive that she would be a downs baby.We were SICK,my daughter lost weeks of rest,that she could not afford to lose while growing a precious bundle,all for what??? We were devastated,and were told repeatedly she should consider termination... NEVER!!well guess what??? January 16,2001 the most incredible baby girl,perfect in EVERY way,was delivered.The look on my daughters face as she stared into my eyes,waiting for the news as I watched the birth was heartbreaking!!! waiting for me to look at her and tell her...downs syndrome...or not..No one should ever have to go through that! what if we had decided that yes,it should be terminated,based on advice from doctors and facial features!?? This beautiful girl is 10 now, straight A's, tall slender ,in 4H,scouts,swimming,gardening,cooking..you name it.Smart as a whip and a delight.Stop being sheeple...you cannot believe everything they tell you!!
Then people wonder why I have lack of trust in articles like this one.
To those idiot parents that are no vaccinating, keep your kids away from the rest of world. When they catch some horrible disease because you were to ignorance to take what is a safe and proven way to protect children, you can suffer the consequences, don't spread it to my kids. The doctor who came up with that has been proven to be a quack and his research quackery.
This disease is all genetics. Researcher will look back on their theories and will laugh at the very idea of it being anything else. If given a choice knowing that a child had this, yes abort. The idea of putting a human through such suffering for a life time is inconceivable. it is selfish and arrogant on the part of a would be parent not to, and expect the rest of society to pay for care for the a child that is not theirs.
jogree,
What you said was selfish also.
whether genetics or not...it makes no difference..what gives you the right to decide to kill your child so it wont be a bother? What gives you the right to determine what constitutes a "bother"??I would certainly rather have an autistic child than a murderer or rapist,or someone selfish like yourself...but when you become pregnant it is a roll of the dice.If you are not able to deal with the hand that is dealt to you..please stop procreating...we really do NOT need more selfish people in this world.
And what gives YOU the right to tell me whether one must maintain a pregnancy that is unlikely to result in a sentient and self-sufficient human being? Do you have a child who is in such straits? Have you volunteered to adopt one? Support one? Give a mom with such a child a day off and take care of him in her stead?
What of other children in the household who are neglected (I know of this first hand)?
If you are not able to honestly answer yes to any of the questions I've raised in paragraph 1, look in the mirror and see the hypocracy all over your face.
Actually the right to murder or not murder is not just MY decision.It is pretty much common knowledge that it is an unacceptable practice.,Does it matter the age of the child? And as to your questions,,yes,I HAVE taken a child in,and have given the parents a break.. I am the grandparent of a learning disabled child ..a 14 year old boy.fetal alcohol syndrome and autism ,that my husband and my self have been raising.I have been bitten, scratched,kicked,during his rages.Do I wish he had not been born? Do I wish they had murdered him due to his imperfections?? Of course not!Does it cost more to raise him,school him, deal with him? Of course, but is it any different than people that make the choice to ride a bike,or ski,or dive into a shallow body of water ,only to end up in an accident and handicapped??Surely you must feel they should be eliminated so as not to be a burden??I CAN look into the mirror,I see no hypocrisy .I and my husband have stepped up to the plate .Would YOU???This is a society of moral decay,with everyone looking out for themselves,taking the easy road,...maybe you are the one needing to look into the mirror,because if it is a burden,you just delete it like it never existed.My point to the whole thing was do not trust the medical profession to make a diagnosis,and a decision, they make mistakes.as in the case of my granddaughter
I'm sorry, jorgee....you're a geneticist now? Really? since you're a genius and know this for a fact, we must assume you did intensive research on the matter. Your ignorant, arrogant post reminds me of a lady I knew who had a simular name.....
jorgee, while I agree that vaccines are a must, if a child who is not vaccinated gets sick and comes in contact with yours, why be worried? Your kid is vaccinated and protected from the contagious disease.
@idlehands,
Jorgee obviously is stating that there is a chance of contracting a deadly or disabling disease before the chance or opportunity of vaccination. But maybe there is another explanation that you would like to explain or elaborate on?
Seriously--mostly a whole lot of people who know nothing about autism commenting here.
Yes--being able to diagnose earlier leads to more abortions. Or 90% of parents told or even hinted to by their dr's that their baby may have Down Syndrome (in the US) would NOT abort!!!
As much as I may "support" scientific advancement--anyone who thinks that physicians don't push pre-natal testing and abortion on women is STUPID!!! A law was even passed in this country a couple years back to force doctor's to give parents accurate and up-to-date information--and yet STILL parents are told that their children will "have no future"--which is a total and utter lie!!!
No--I see more eugenics via pre-term abortion through such "findings"--even though they actually need to be replicated--and the fact that they're looking at school aged children means that they can't actually "determine" that any of these facial "differences" completely occur in utero.
This life was not meant to be perfect. Choosing to be a parent means taking on risk. Anyone not willing to do this should NOT become parents!!!!
I disagree. Anyone who does not want to deal with the frustration and emotional/financial drain of a seriously deformed or unhealthy child should not have to and society should not be burdened. While there are certainly adoptive parents who might want that responsibility, it is by no means assured that such an individual will step up.
While "no future" is a very powerful term, it is often the case that an unhealthy or otherwise debilitated child will come into the world and make something of themselves. What if they have siblings? Why are they to be denied or fractionated in their demand for parental resources because the majority of them are taken by a child that might not even ever feed herself? The moral imperative of some who feel that any life, no matter its circumstance is laudable but cruel to others.
Also, as a former teacher, you should know that "doctor's" is an improper construct. You mean "doctors". Grade: F.
What if your child is severely deformed or unhealthy after birth, maybe a child is burned at 4 years old or develops cancer at 8?
Really, Bob? Eugenics much? I give you an "F" in humanity, decency and compassion.
It is a tough call, I'm not sure what I would do. I agree with Bob that there are many parents that do not have the financial or emotional well being to handle a severely disable child. But the tests are not the begin and end all. The doctor could say your child is perfectly healthy in every way and then later in life show a sociopathic personality and become a criminal. I'd rather have a happy, loving downs syndrome child than a 'healthy' sociopath for a child.
P.S. By saying they should not become parents, I mean they should not choose to have sex--thus creating the chance of getting pregnant! NOT that they should then "abort" the consequence to their actions!!!
Fine, and why would they do that? Unless a person is genetically predisposed to a particular condition, which is unlikely, why oh why would they want to do that? If it becomes clear that the results of that particular impregnation will result in a significant deformity, it is the parents' right to determine their responsibility for what will happen if a spontaneous abortion does not occur, not you.
There is a new study found here: which implies links to insulin and diabetic issues during gestatation which ties into this finding. Whether this can be turned into 'prevention' with closer glucose intolerance monitoring of the mother during gestation is unknown.
What is clear now is that all the noise about whether a child should be vaccinated should be tamped down. We can only hope!
The link is found today at the sciencedaily dot com website at the lower left or look for hyperinsulemia. This thread won't allow me to post the link.
sorry..my link didn't show up.
My husband and I have both made the same observation - albeit, it's anecdotal, therefore not scientific.
We were returning home and saw a young boy with a group of people, some visibly mentally challenged, others more 'neuro-typical' looking. Our son has AS. We both did a double take because the young man looked almost identical to our son, until we got a bit closer and noticed he was somewhat older.
In the years since then, we've noticed many other children with the same affect - we always say they look like our boy, and only half-jokingly say maybe they're related.
As I said, nothing scientific, but IMO there is a definite similarity to these kids.
we've been wondering if our oldest has Asperger's and are looking into getting her evaluated.... she looks like a beautiful female version of the boy up there.... for what its worth.
I believe the same assumption could be made about corrupt politicians. Each has one nose, usually two eyes, two ears (but they don't hear constituents, just lobbyists and contributors) and one mouth on each side of their head -- one for campaigning, the other for raising taxes and spouting propaganda after the election.
@mathuin,
Really? So you actually believe that politicians are born, and not elected by those same facial features you mentioned? In other words, if they were so easy to point out from the crowd for being corrupt, who then is to blame for voting for them? Although I understand your possible comic relief deviance from the story, still does not make it in good taste.
Since Autism is so overly diagnosed, this article is pointless. Let's stop pigeon-holing children and let them develop. Autism is such a broad diagnosis. Some kids have it, this is clear. But it's such an array of symptoms. I had my daughter at 38 years old. Even after several tests in the first and second trimester showing she had a 1/40,000 chance of having downs syndrome, doctors still wanted to convince me to do an amnio. I declined. And my daughter is the smartest, brightest child you could imagine. Zero health issues since she was born. Glad I didn't listen. Sorry to the doctors in San Diego that didn't make money off of some crap diagnosis. And glad I moved to a country (Germany) where pregnancy wasn't about the doctors making money.
I have to agree with TK - autism is a VERY broad diagnosis:
The link below is an overview of research concerning the "spectrum of autism" and other "pervasive developmental disorders." It is a lengthy article, yet worth reading. The word "autistic" covers a wide range of possible attributes and it seems to be expanding to include other behavioral patterns, etc.
This is confusing for doctors, who like things black and white; confusing to parents who want to do the best for their child and difficult on the child as well (my cousin has Asperger's).
I also agree with TK that doctors like to accessorize with the latest diagnosis - (whether it's 'autistic' or ADD or Fibromyalgia, etc.), yet they are not infallible and they are not the upset parent or patient.
From: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1155568-overview
In regards to the relationship between the facial structure and autisim. Often times the autistic child or adult is very musical, this can be seen by the shape of the ear. The ear shape also indicates the need to control. So when the autistic person may throw a fit if they are not in control of the situation. Playing music helps them to relax. The photo of the young man at the beginning of this page, his features indicate he does not follow the crowd. He is less conventional, you see this trait in many people who are not autistic. Another noticeable feature is low tolerance, which can be determined by measuring the eyes. Close set eyed individuals can focus on situations until they are bigger than life.
Yes, you will see some traits in common, but because individuals have the above traits it does not mean they are autistic. The same with ADD, this is being misdiagnosed in many cases. Again, we can identify the traits in the face that indicate how restless a person is or if they are bored by repetition or can take on too many tasks at once. When an individual with the restless traits has a better understanding of why, they are able to channel their energy in the right direction.
The system I use, Face Pattern Recognition, has been well researched over the last 80 years and has been found to be at least 91% accurate.
Wow, I am impressed. I don't often see people that can understand these little intricacies and nuances in life. I have, without any sort of system, been recognising peoples behaviours and logic using their looks and mannerisms. It has always done me well.