Might such a test be developed in a minimum of five years, to be used to test children for autism at birth? Professor Rebecca Landa guesses this at the end of a June 3rd Newsweek article on the early detection of autism. And here is one company with a business plan to develop such a test. Are we ready for it?
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I said it before and I will say it again. The new born should have a test for the amount 0f lead and arsenic in there hair to see if they become autistic later on. If they do then just find out were the lead or arsenic comes from and you may cut down on the number of childern with autism.
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I wish I could have known when my son was very small that he would have this disorder. If i had known I would have gotten him treatment sooner instead of waiting on doctors to play catch up. Instead I got the ” Oh your a first time mother and some kids have developmental delays”. Yeah they do.. but into the 4th year shouldn’t he be talking???? It would be great to be able to be of use to my child instead of being forced to wait all those wasted years.
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[...] advances in studying the eye tracking patterns of infants may lead to a new way–yet another new way?—to diagnose autism and language delays in young children, according to the July 31st New [...]
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[...] is currently no medical or biological test for autism. Some researchers have noted that a blood test might be developed for autism: Today’s Science Daily reports on how researchers at Purdue [...]
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Excellent point and suggestions, Jennifer…
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Just a quick comment re: the birthday invitations…I always found birthday parties (especially sleep-overs) distressing in the extreme.
While I mostly “pass” for NT, small talk and “schmoozing” is not my thing, and that makes parties very difficult for me. I also have a hard time initiating social interactions, so I generally hang out on the sidelines until someone drags me into the thick of things. Meanwhile, I have some pretty definite personal space issues that make crowds not fun. Add to that being a picky eater, and you can see where this is going. ;-)
I stopped having my own parties as soon as I could convince people I didn’t want one; rather, my family developed a tradition of a “birthday dinner” that I could invite one friend to.
I’m not saying that friends aren’t important, or that birthday party invitations aren’t something a child would like, or even that all people on the autism spectrum dislike them — and I’m certainly not trying to minimize your feelings about them…I’m just pointing out that it might not be bothering your kids.
Maybe a bike ride with a neighbor or classmate (or, even, in Charlie’s case, someone maybe training for a bike race that would enjoy Charlie’s long bike rides could be a good “big brother” type of pal for him) would be good. :-)
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