I have heard that certain patterns can be seen in the brain activity of autistic people as early as the age of 2. The progress which has been claimed by researchers, I presume. I do expect that to be a more consistent diagnosis option in the future but, to your point, that may just be wishful thinking.
Autism isn’t diagnosed by blood tests or imagining like you might expect from simpler disorders.
> I have heard that certain patterns can be seen in the brain activity of autistic people as early as the age of 2. The progress which has been claimed by researchers, I presume.
These studies start with doctor diagnosed cases of autism and look for patterns that might separate them from controls. Latest research claims to have around an 80% match rate in a decent sized sample but these tests aren’t coming to your local doctor any time soon.
I, perhaps incorrectly, understand a diagnostic test for ASD to be something involving a lot of interaction between the patient and the professionals analyzing the patient’s behavior and described thought processes. That process isn’t perfect but it can work.
The brain imaging method seems more robust in theory. As you point out (thanks for the details!), it’s not particularly advanced and may not be effective in the long run but my hopes are still high for it. It may be a long way off but a future generation might have access to a less costly and more accurate test. I guess calling the current process a “test” seems off?
We both have autism diagnosis and there are so many traits we recognize in our children (5 y.o. female, 3 y.o. male) that in a few years during a heteroanamnesis they also will surely ding ding the boxes. From stimmung to all kind of other behavior we also expressed in our youth. But we remained undiagnosed until well into adulthood and we want our children to land more softly than that.
I just mean that I commonly hear the advice to get a second or third opinion, or otherwise to involve a team of professionals, were one to seek a diagnosis.
Our diagnosis involved heteroanamnesis, and many, many questionnaires and interviews. By a team with each being a specialist in the field on a different facet.
I cannot recommend getting tested enough. Because those who suspect likely researched into it, and are being told traits get recognized or they're facing challenges in their life. But I live in a country with a sort of working social system which (although weakened) so mandatory insurance worked. If you do not have access to that I'd sing a different tune... and in such a society it is very likely a lot of undiagnosed and stuck people are runnin' around.
At the end of the day, self acceptance must come with or without diagnosis.
Anyway, I firmly disagree. Self acceptance knowing you are wired differently and understanding aspects like Theory of Mind are a great opportunity to better function. The earlier the person learns to deal with these fundamentals (with which they likely WILL face issues with including in early childhood), the better.
Case in point: my 5 y.o. daughter just does not read her little brother's social cues. She cannot fathom he does not want X or Y.
I explain her needs and desires do not necessarily align with his and that she must try to notice his (I describe them like do you hear he is yelling because of XYZ). This is largely futile. Because she notices he yells but doesn't understand why. He's only 3, so he mostly plays parallel (normal for his age).
I also describe the circumstances of the situation. Usually it is before dinnertime. So I explain right before dinner isn't a good time to play together. Because they trigger each other. So it is a good time to play solo and respect each other's boundaries. At that time they're hangry and difficult, so often some drama isn't avoidable.
Unfortunately some triggers cannot be avoided. They have to go bath sometimes, and we settled for once a week. He hates to wash his hair. Our daughter had same, as did I.
That she is not an expert socializer at five years old does not indicate shes autistic. There are tens of thousands of confounding variables.
Until I knew I had a brain injury, I could not figure out how to work around my issues. Everything I tried was a dead end. It was unrelenting failure and judgement.
Knowing what a problem is gives you the ability to solve it. Not everyone will use that knowledge to their benefit, but withholding the knowledge from someone is abusive.
I was surprised by this when in my high school class the teacher (a doctor) asked the students if they would like to be accutely aware of an unfixable chronic brain impairment (if i recall it was memory impairment in this case). To my horror almost everyone said no.
FYI: Autism isn’t diagnosed by brain imaging. It’s an area of active research and there have been a few small studies from researchers claiming progress with fMRI techniques, but there is no current imaging test a doctor can order to check you for autism.
So if you do find a neurologist who claims to be able to diagnose you by brain scan, you should actually leave that doctor and find a better one.