New brain scan to diagnose autism

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TallyMan
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11 Aug 2010, 11:49 am

Interesting article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10929032

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Ichinin
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11 Aug 2010, 12:11 pm

Would be annoying if it ONLY picks up Autism (as it is today) and not Aspergers, NVLD, atypical or PDD-NOS...

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Willard
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11 Aug 2010, 1:29 pm

Wouldn't it be annoying if it misses Autism in half the people it scans and they get deprived of services and help they need because the machine says they aren't Autistic when they are? The whole idea is ridiculous and this is at least the third thread in 24hrs to have posted this article.

Poppycocteau
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11 Aug 2010, 1:37 pm

Quote:

Wouldn't it be annoying if it misses Autism in half the people it scans and they get deprived of services and help they need because the machine says they aren't Autistic when they are?

Well, exactly. My first thought when I read this was "Oh, no! What if I have to take this test to prove I have Autism to the DWP, and if it comes up negative my benefits will be confiscated!"

It seems like the sort of thing that people in charge will use as an excuse to save money.

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Aspie_Craig
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11 Aug 2010, 3:33 pm

I read this with interest today.

Macbeth
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11 Aug 2010, 3:47 pm

Poppycocteau wrote:

Quote:

Wouldn't it be annoying if it misses Autism in half the people it scans and they get deprived of services and help they need because the machine says they aren't Autistic when they are?

Lets be fair. You could take the test and PASS it and the DWP would just ignore the result and stop your benefits anyway.

Though if an upside. If you could prove definitively that someone DOESN'T have autism, it might put a dent in the curebies who think they have "cured" an autistic kid when they actually have something else.

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Poppycocteau
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11 Aug 2010, 4:31 pm

Quote:

Lets be fair. You could take the test and PASS it and the DWP would just ignore the result and stop your benefits anyway.

Ugh, that's true. :shaking:

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flybirdfly
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11 Aug 2010, 5:59 pm

Apparently, It does pick up Asperger's:

youtube[dot]com/watch?v=GgeuHyVWz1w

ShadesOfMe
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12 Aug 2010, 12:57 am

Poppycocteau wrote:

Quote:

Wouldn't it be annoying if it misses Autism in half the people it scans and they get deprived of services and help they need because the machine says they aren't Autistic when they are?

do you work for the DWP? what branch? (sorry if this is prying)

ShadesOfMe
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12 Aug 2010, 12:59 am

Willard wrote:

I'd be afraid of that too. What if he scan said that I wasn't an aspie?! (ridonkulus!) and some people think Asperger's isn't really autism, so what if it missed AS on the scans??? or worse yet, what if one day they would force you to take the scans? It is very scary for me.

indiana
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13 Aug 2010, 9:30 am

Willard wrote:

Wouldn't it be annoying if it misses Autism in half the people it scans and they get deprived of services and help they need because the machine says they aren't Autistic when they are?

Surely people are more likely to be misdiagnosed under the present method because of human error?

The advantages of such a brain scan would be:-
a) children can be diagnozed at an earlier age.
b) older adults will not have a fight to get a diagnosis because at present it isn't seen as cost-effective to find other whether or not they have AS.
c)The neo-typicals who doubt whether either Autism or AS actually exists will have proof that it does.

Obviously there will need to be research into this new method of diagnosis but if it's viable it can surely only be a good thing.

visagrunt
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13 Aug 2010, 10:44 am

Let's remember that ASD's are on a spectrum. This is not a binary state diagnosis where you either have it or you don't ("Congratulations, you are not a cylon!"), rather this is a physiological trait that appears to correlate with some presentations of autism spectrum disorders.

It seems intuitive that people with less severe presentations are likely to have less marked differences in physiology, but further study will bear out whether or not that is the case.

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