People with ASD have larger foreheads?

Post Reply New Topic

Autism causes Eyes! (as in "I's").

No, but seriously, what do you mean by "larger foreheads"? Is it the width of them? The height? The ratio of forehead to face? Area? Depth of forehead? Could mean a lot.

There have been studies on facial features of autism, but bear in mind they have small sample sizes and are very early in development:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/children-with-autism-have-distinct-facial-features-study/
http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2011/facial-features-provide-clue-to-autism-severity
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/07/physical-features-autism-spectrum-disorder-asd.html
http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/in-brief/2012/clinical-research-facial-features-can-help-diagnose-autism

I have seen a larger study with prevalence of certain characteristics in autism and I will try to find it and edit it in if I do.

One thing to keep in mind:

Some people with autism have certain genetic differences which are totally separate from autism--and which causes such things as large foreheads and widely-spaced eyes.

Ok I found it

I had a hard time finding it but it was linked on this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=216766&start=15

http://www.stat.missouri.edu/faculty/flournoy/www/papers/gen_immun/gen_immun_12.PDF

That is a huge list The list is from page 5 to page 7. It's just a collaboration of all the different studies on this from what I can tell.

There are large picture galleries here on WP, within at least three subforums.

If one would take a look at them, one could formulate an idea about the facial features of people who are, especially, within the "higher functioning" reaches of the autistic spectrum.

Genetic anomalies separate from autism are somewhat prevalent within those with "low-functioning" autism--though many people with "low-functioning" autism have a totally "normal" face.

Huh, so phrenology is a legit science now? Interesting... brb taking up alchemy.

Observing facial structures is already accurate for Down Syndrome and William Syndrome. I think that's pretty "legit". It's the same type of thing except any differences in autism, if there are any, are subtle and may be part of a genetic disorder which presents as autism. I think it is worth studying because it would definitely help the diagnostic process if there is something a large amount of people with autism have that people without autism don't. So far they've found there is nothing unique to autism and there are just a higher prevalence of dysmorphic features.

I mean that's what I get from the links and threads on it before but I could be wrong.

Don't think it's quite the same. ASD is a difference in neurobiology, and things like Downs Syndrome and Williams Syndrome are straight up chromosomal deletions/duplications, and as such affect development across the board from the very start. You can't even diagnose autism until you can start observing behavioural traits, which I'm sure you'll say is exactly the problem OP wants to adress. However, I dont' think adding anything like "larger than average forehead" as a diagnostic trait is going to be helpful in a field where professionals still say things like "you can't be autistic, you can make eye contact.". Especially since I doubt such a correlation can actually be demonstrated to exist.

Thus, trying to discern the neurobiology of an individual by observing the structure of the skull would be rather close to phrenology, hence my joke about alchemy.

Nobody diagnoses autism based on facial features or anything of a gross anatomical nature.

Forgive me for all these links but citations really are necessary.

http://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_chung_autism_what_we_know_and_what_we_don_t_know_yet

You're going to want to look at 8:00 to 10:15 approximately. But at 9:45 is exactly what you're saying - deletion.

Hm. This is actually news to me, so I guess I should thank you for bringing this to me. Thank you. That being said, she does point out that there are hundreds of genes, in concert or alone, that can cause autism. With autism being the end result of a multitude of developmental paths, there may very well be distinctive features associated with specific genetic makeups that present with autism, but that isn't quite the same as identifying people with autism based on said features. Especially vaguely defined ones such as "larger forehead". Sometimes, a large forehead is just a large forehead.

Yep...sometimes a larger forehead is, indeed, a larger forehead.

Oh, no doubt. More research definitely is needed for the rest of that 75% for the sudden appearance of autism in families, and also the ones where it does run in families. But it won't get anywhere if early studies are ridiculed. There is probably no one cause for autism - it is a general classification of the triad of three impairments. But yeah, large forehead is vague and obviously not unique to autism but there may be a high prevalence among certain types of autism and it is worth exploring why. And no problem, it's an interest to me at the moment.

Case closed.

My ridicule was actually directed at the OP, and I entirely missed the studies you linked to earlier. Apologies if that was unclear.

I don't have a large forehead at all. In fact, it's kind of small.