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
  • 90% is very good, and far better than for example 60%. It is progress though. I think they are just trying to understand what the differences are at the moment, as they are so complex to assess they need a computer. Perhaps once they work out the finer intricacies and get closer to 100% they will consider a wider clinical trial to consider the wider applicability to other genders and ages. Plus this research, I feel, is far more useful than research trying to identify genetic markers, or looking for a "cure" that does not exist.

    We also have to remember, while they are the best we have at present, traditional diagnostic methods are not 100% infallible. As we know many are undiagnosed, and chances are some will be misdiagnosed with the condition. I was once told of someone who in their clinical opinion had a personality disorder, but the parents saw Aspergers as a nicer diagnosis. I guess the point being personality disorder implies quite different reasons for unusual behaviour, than Aspergers. They pushed for that diagnosis and it was given.

Reply
  • 90% is very good, and far better than for example 60%. It is progress though. I think they are just trying to understand what the differences are at the moment, as they are so complex to assess they need a computer. Perhaps once they work out the finer intricacies and get closer to 100% they will consider a wider clinical trial to consider the wider applicability to other genders and ages. Plus this research, I feel, is far more useful than research trying to identify genetic markers, or looking for a "cure" that does not exist.

    We also have to remember, while they are the best we have at present, traditional diagnostic methods are not 100% infallible. As we know many are undiagnosed, and chances are some will be misdiagnosed with the condition. I was once told of someone who in their clinical opinion had a personality disorder, but the parents saw Aspergers as a nicer diagnosis. I guess the point being personality disorder implies quite different reasons for unusual behaviour, than Aspergers. They pushed for that diagnosis and it was given.

Children
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