Scientific brain linked to autism

[Dover]

Scientific brain linked to autism

Highly analytical couples, such as scientists, may be more likely to produce children with autism, an expert has argued.
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, of the University of Cambridge, said the phenomenon might help explain the recent rise in diagnoses.

He believes the genes which make some analytical may also impair their social and communication skills.

A weakness in these areas is the key characteristic of autism.

It is thought that around one child in every 100 has a form of autism - the vast majority of those affected are boys.

The number of diagnoses seems to be on the increase, but some argue this is simply because of a greater awareness of the condition...cont'd

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4661402.stm

[On the Road]

1. It's Amazing My Daughter Isn't Autistic

My ex-wife and I are both highly analytical. We dodged a bullet.

[Warpy]

2. Both my parents were engineers

I'm certainly weird enough, but not autistic.

This guy needs to do more research, clearly.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. But I can definitely understand the results of this study.

Individuals with math ability run in my family, and there are periods in our lives where you can call any of us socially autistic. Thankfully, it's only periods. In those spurts, our analytical creativity was high, but our social skills and desires were absolute crap.

Maybe that's what makes some of us appear so geeky?

[Brotherjohn]

6. The study isn't saying if you have two analytical parents, you WILL...

...have an autistic child. It simply reveals a correlation, an increased likelihood. As a father of an autistic child, and spouse of a woman who is similarly "analytically-minded" to me, I'd have to agree there's something there. But despite the increased incidence, autism and autism-related conditions are still only 1 in 100, max.

We all know correlation does not prove causation. But when a correlation presents that is of a nature where it is possibly or likely that the two factors have related causes, it is valid research. The causes of autism are not fully understood, but it is known that there is a genetic (and physiological) component. It is very likely that areas of the brain and behaviors that are unique to autism are at least related to those same characteritics in people who are "analytical" and "socially awkward".

As to how much of this is heritable (and how) is a subject for further study.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. There is the theory that Einstein was autistic. He didn't talk until age

four, he had to scribble down notes to himself and walked around with dozens of these notes in his pockets, he was allegedly dyslexic (OK, nothing to do with autism), and had a heightened right-brain spacial capacity.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. I wish we had an Einstein in our times.

Can you imagine our kids being taught by someone that brilliant?

[no_hypocrisy]

9. A little-known fact about Einstein is that he worshipped music.

He said that he THOUGHT in music, not mathematics, not physics. Music.

In Princeton, he always carried his violin case wherever he went. He also said that he wished that he could have performed music for a living if he could do it over again.

[Orrex]

17. Retro-diagnosis of recently-understood conditions is foolhardy

It serves no purpose other than to glamourize a condition whose diagnosis is as mercurial as the Thimerosal that some allege is the cause of it.

Additionally, some often claim that Einstein had the even less clearly defined Asperger's Syndrome, which is difficult to diagnose in a subject who's sitting right in front of you, much less dead for half a century.

Barring some clear empirical evidence (solid genetic evidence, an unambiguous diagnosis from a contemporary, or other hallmarks, etc.), this kind of beyond-the-grave diagnosis has no greater medical validity than finding shapes in the clouds.

[Brotherjohn]

5. SELF-DELETED

[Canuckistanian]

7. My kid is autistic

And both his mother and I are university educated. Thankfully, he's high-functioning and very intelligent himself.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. The flaw of American education is not considering autism to be another

form of being gifted. Not all autistic children are gifted, I understand, but those who are deserve and need a specialized program that develops their extraordinary mental prowess.

[Wilms]

12. Ding!

Come on down and select your prize!

:)

[hunter]

13. Is it rude to return a gift?

:banghead:

[phantom power]

11. It's a system tuning parameter.

Tune the "autism" parameter up a little, and you get something like an engineer. Introverted, maybe socially awkward, etc. Turn it up a bit higher, and you start to lower functionality. Asperger's syndrome, maybe. Keep turning it up, and you get lower and lower functioning. Profound autism.

[MrMonk]

14. There are a pair of quizzes associated with the Guardian article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html

I took them, with disturbing results.

If this is more appropriate to the Lounge, you are welcome to post there.

[bloom]

16. On the contrary - the quizzes are perfect

for this discussion.

I sent them around.


thanks for posting them.

[supernova]

18. According to this test, I am female w/ a male brain.

:silly:

Interesting.

My Emotional quotient is 60, which is above average ability for empathizing with others. That fits right in with their theory of female brains. And I can verify this. In my interactions with others, I can often just know what the other person is feeling. Call it intuition or imagination, regardless, it's there. But I have a hard time with more than one person. Rooms full of people are overwhelming for me in this regard.

My Systemizing quotient is 74, which is "You have a very high ability for analysing and exploring a system. Three times as many people with Asperger Syndrome score in this range, compared to typical men, and almost no women score this high."

Fascinating, as Mr Spock would say. My empathizing score suggests that I'm more than capabable of reading social cues, so I don't have Aspergers. But, I do have affinities for certain bodies of knowlege: astronomy, map reading, theology and philosophy, how languages work.

If I plot myself on this graph, I'm in the middle and off the graph of the upper right quadrant:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/image/0,13030,938137,00.html

[eridani]

19. Since when is the ability to read social cues linked to empathy?

Does empathy require actually knowing what other people are feeling? You don't have to personally read signs about how someone feels about having their kids shot by occupying soldiers to know how you would feel if something like that happened to you.

[bloom]

15. Wired had an article about this in 2001 Re: Silicon Valley

It's good that more people are studying it...

There has been more evidence of how specific genes relate to it since then.

The Geek Syndrome

Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

By Steve Silberman

Nick is building a universe on his computer. He's already mapped out his first planet: an anvil-shaped world called Denthaim that is home to gnomes and gods, along with a three-gendered race known as kiman. As he tells me about his universe, Nick looks up at the ceiling, humming fragments of a melody over and over. "I'm thinking of making magic a form of quantum physics, but I haven't decided yet, actually," he explains. The music of his speech is pitched high, alternately poetic and pedantic - as if the soul of an Oxford don has been awkwardly reincarnated in the body of a chubby, rosy-cheeked boy from Silicon Valley. Nick is 11 years old.

Nick's father is a software engineer, and his mother is a computer programmer. They've known that Nick was an unusual child for a long time. He's infatuated with fantasy novels, but he has a hard time reading people. Clearly bright and imaginative, he has no friends his own age. His inability to pick up on hidden agendas makes him easy prey to certain cruelties, as when some kids paid him a few dollars to wear a ridiculous outfit to school.

One therapist suggested that Nick was suffering from an anxiety disorder. Another said he had a speech impediment. Then his mother read a book called Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals. In it, psychologist Tony Attwood describes children who lack basic social and motor skills, seem unable to decode body language and sense the feelings of others, avoid eye contact, and frequently launch into monologues about narrowly defined - and often highly technical - interests. Even when very young, these children become obsessed with order, arranging their toys in a regimented fashion on the floor and flying into tantrums when their routines are disturbed. As teenagers, they're prone to getting into trouble with teachers and other figures of authority, partly because the subtle cues that define societal hierarchies are invisible to them.

"I thought, 'That's Nick,'" his mother recalls....

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html