Autism identified by facial structure

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MSNBC

According to MSNBC, apparently so....

This is kind of funny. I didn't read the article, but my husband swears you can tell by looking at their cheeks.

We already had a 7+ page long and heated debate about this, let's drop it for now.

Research for the cause of autism scares me, as the only purpose it would serve would be to identify before birth and essentially cause genocide through abortion or the likes. We don't want to no the cause, it isn't helping anyone.

Oh, for crying out loud...

Look, I don't subscribe to all this research being done incessantly looking for ways to identify Autistics just by looking at them. Just because we can tell with other syndromes, doesn't necessarily mean it works for Autism.

On the other hand, I won't say there is nothing to the idea. It hasn't been proven by any studies yet, but who knows? Maybe they will someday. But how will that help any of us who have Autism DEAL with it. I think the whole line of research is a waste of time, and of no value to me personally.

But, it's not my time being wasted, so why should I care? Let 'em play around with the idea for cripes sake! Many incredible things have been discovered just by letting researchers do what they do. Who's to say nothing of value will ever come of it?

It's not like they're going to start running facial scans on everyone, loading everyone who is identified into box cars, then shipping them off to be gassed.

Stop being to paranoid.

At least the article said autism starts in the womb. But yeah, I barely have any of those facial features.

I don't have those facial features. My eyes are actually quite small, and so is my philtrum (area between nose and upper lip).

The study didn't include any females.

There was another study linked below that suggested that individuals with autism and unaffected mothers had a significantly greater asymmetry in facial features.

There were some differences in asymmetry among females tested with autism and siblings, little asymmetry in fathers, but the most significant asymmetry was seen in males with autism and their unaffected mothers.

In the other thread it was pointed out that the mothers may have learned to accommodate their autism, to escape a diagnosis of autism. Further studies could address this issue, and it was suggested that further studies be carried out to determine what caused the facial asymmetry in the unaffected mothers.

The study only looked at 12 females; as far as I know there are no studies that show differences in females, or any studies that have seriously addressed the issue in females with autism.

I think that future studies might address the issue, in depth, with females with autism as well.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/69374163/Face-and-brain-asymmetry-in-autism-spectrum-disorders.

Link to the other thread that covered the subject in detail:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt177762.html

That's a good point. As I understand it the distance between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip is a sex-dependent thing. IOW, in female people that distance is statistically smaller due simply to being female. So, that study wouldn't be applicable.

As well as the size of the eyes and spacing. The eyes of a male on average are proportionately smaller and spaced narrower than women.

this scares me a little idk why.