Sethno wrote:
littlelily613 wrote:
Brain scans, and yes, all people on the spectrum do have different brain wiring which is visible on these scans.
Are there actually brain scans that can indicate someone's on the austism spectrum?
No, unfortunately not; those would make diagnosis so much easier.
What you get is that if you take a group of autistics, and a group of NTs, and scan everybody, and compare the scans, you will find differences between the two groups. The trouble is that those differences aren't unique to autism, and that not everybody has all of them, so that you can't use the scans for diagnosis. All you can say is that autistic brains are predictably different from NT brains on a macroscopic level, because that's what brain scans can test.
On the microscale, we do have different connectivity, but once again it's not unique to autism and can't be used for diagnosis. And, anyway, a brain biopsy is a major undertaking that you don't do unless somebody's life is in danger.
Right now, behavioral interviews (i.e., asking somebody what their behavior or their child's behavior is like) are the most reliable diagnostic procedure for autism, despite there being observable brain differences, because those observable brain differences just aren't unique enough--the human brain is incredibly variable and flexible during development. Brain scans are still mostly used for diagnosing injuries and brain tumors, and the EEG for diagnosing and monitoring epilepsy.