Brain Scan a good thing.?

This is my first post in this discussion.

It might soon be possible to discover if someone is Autistic by a brain scan.

There is information about the new brain scan on the web site and the articles were written last year in 2010.   Anyone can look it up for themselves on the web.

 

The computer can tell small differences in the brain so tell if the person is on the Autistic Spectrum.

It would be much quicker than interviewing the person.

I do not know if a person would count as Autistic if they behaved as though they were but the brain scan did not show Autism.

People in that situation might be denied help if they did not count as Autistic.

In the 1980s I was told that the brain scans did not detect anything wrong with my brians.   People who knew me were not impressed.

I have since done brain scans for research the idea being to find out by scanning many Autistic people if their brains are different from Non Autistic people.

That research might have helped them develop the new brain scan.

Do you think the new brain scan will be a good thing when it is developed?

What would you feel if the brain scan found that your were not Autistic? 

David

Parents
  • I am somewhat doubtful as to the claims of 90% accuracy with such a small sample group, particularly when they talk of diffences within the group. I'd have to look at the full paper to make a proper judgement, plus it would of course have to be repeated on a much larger scale including women and children with autism.

    I would be particularly hesitant at extrapolating the use to diagnose autistic children based on differences seen in adults as these neurological differences may become more apparent later in life due to using different parts of the brain. The last thing we would want would be for children to be missed based upon a false premise.

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  • I am somewhat doubtful as to the claims of 90% accuracy with such a small sample group, particularly when they talk of diffences within the group. I'd have to look at the full paper to make a proper judgement, plus it would of course have to be repeated on a much larger scale including women and children with autism.

    I would be particularly hesitant at extrapolating the use to diagnose autistic children based on differences seen in adults as these neurological differences may become more apparent later in life due to using different parts of the brain. The last thing we would want would be for children to be missed based upon a false premise.

Children
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