Head Circumference

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You said it Dude! I was just saying Hey!

I have read studies that say that some people on spectrum have big heads. I'm not sure what it means. I don't think it's everyone on the spectrum. I have a very small head. But my son who is also AS has a big head.

I've heard about it too but no, everyone doesn't have this.

I heard that as many as 25% of Autistic/AS adults have larger heads, and the average is around 15% larger. BTW from what I recall, that works out to a bit over 8" hat size.

BTW I say ADULT, because it is FAR more common in kids. As a kid, I had a large head, but don't anymore. The rate of growth slows, and ends up generally being no more than 2% over normal.

My head is normal size.

My NT sister (who has a few AS traits but socializes normally) has a slightly larger than average head. It's not noticeable when looking at her but she can't wear a generic "one size fits all" hat because they are too small.

I wonder how much of the research has been bastardized into common mythology? That is, there is statistical and observational evidence that kids who are found to be autistic have large brains (not necessarily heads, but brains) and overgrowths in specific areas of the brain as children. I wonder if that got translated into "head size" somehow when the information was filtered out in the popular press? Kind of like that old wive's tale that you have to drink like six large glasses of water (not juice, etc.) a day - which is a complete fabrication on someone's part that just got taken up by the press and put out to the masses.... There are people who genetically have large skulls, it does not necessarily mean they are autistic or even near the spectrum. I don't think anyone has ever been able to make a direct causal correlation between large skull size and autism. Please point me to the research findings if you know differently?

Well, my head looked smaller than average as a tiny baby then throughout childhood looked significantly larger in overall proportion to my body than my siblings' proportions and as an adult, still but to a lesser degree looks disproportionately larger in comparison to my other family members. It isn't a myth. It's probably related to degree of something or whatever.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17022081

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9031582

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10382131

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12757362

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17644070

Ask and ye shall receive.

Thanks flutter, That was very helpful, even if I could only understand vaguely what they were attempting to say.

Well, Nan wanted research.

It's very good to see the studies. I wish they would write it in more understandable terms. Thank you for providing it.

Actually, it made me uncomfortable and gave me the shakes a little bit. But I'm still glad to have taken a small peek at the studies. I haven't heard very much about this aspect at all and it does make me uncomfortable.

Thanks again.

Sorry, didn't mean to cause discomfort, but hey, it's always better to know the truth, right?

Same here - it's a royal pain in the arse.


M.

Yes, absolutely. I guess no one wants to see themselves as different, and certainly not in medical terms. I can handle it though. My nervous system sort of goes hay-wire over the smallest things anyway.

Don't worry flutter, you didn't cause any significant or unwanted discomfort, so no need at all to apologize. Thanks again!