possible genetic test for autism

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i do not have a like but if you go to:
msn.com there is an article claiming there is a way to detect autism in the womb or shortly after birth

My worst nightmare has come true.

did you find the article

I was looking for it, but I couldn't find it.

There's the link to this article: http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc- ... d=24520565

I found a link to another article, but my computer keeps directing me back to Swagbucks.

From the looks of it it is not a prenatal test, which makes it less disconcerting. Early interventions with therapies are one thing; eugenics are another. This is thankfully not taking that step as of yet.

Hopefully it doesn't go in that direction.

Oh, it will. There are already jerks out there arguing to bring back forced sterilization; a prenatal test will be sought and pregnancies will be terminated.

Fine. Whatever. I can't make that choice for anyone else. If someone can barely handle a "normal" child-- and since coming back to the fine Eastern US to live among educated people near a metropolitan area, I have seen a really depressing amount of people who can't handle "normal" children-- then I wouldn't wish them on a spectrum child.

If they want to throw back Divinity's backhanded blessings, that's their problem. Take it up with the Management, man.

What society needs to fight-- to the bitter end-- is the fact that genetic counselors ENCOURAGE people to abort these pregnancies. Treat it as a foregone conclusion. I had a diagnostic ultrasound with my last DD; to get it, I had to go through the whole package, genetic counseling and all.

The poor woman looked so apologetic when she said there was no way to detect AS in a fetus yet (stupid Aspie, I answer honestly when they ask questions), but geneticists were working on it.

Then I told her that it wouldn't matter. I wouldn't want to know. It wouldn't change my feelings toward the fetus in question, it wouldn't change my course of action. She actually did not know what to say. All she could do was look at me with that combination of eyes, brows, mouth, and slant of head that denotes confusion.

Then I had to argue about my decision never to ever ever ever take risperidone again. With a goddamn obstetrician. WRONG END, DUMMY!! !!

So I got my diagnostic ultrasound, I never did get an answer to my question about whether all the fluoxetine I was taking was affecting the baby's blood pressure (what I'd been there about in the first place), and I got to see her little fetal face in really incredible detail. I got in the car and patted her little butt through my belly and told her that I loved her no matter what kind of neurology she turned out to have, and drove away. Never went back there.

If we're going to have very early diagnosis, we need better treatments than ABA. Ones that are about optimizing function, not minimizing NT discomfort.

And we need a lot more acceptance. Autism needs to stop being a tragedy. Parents need to be able to be in a store with a child having a meltdown and get compassion rather than criticism and judgment. People need to stop being so foul to each other in general.

'Course, if we do that, Divinity will bless us. Or we'll be blessing ourselves. Or whatever. We won't be going to Hell in a handcart any more, and none of it will matter so much.

Never mind. f**k it. Develop a prenatal test and abort 'em-- this world isn't good enough to be trusted with autistic children. Hope their little souls draw a better dimension on the next incarnation.

I disagree with you. I feel that kids on the spectrum should not be aborted. I feel that they should be brought into this world and their lives should be respected as much as the lives of typically developing children. I believe that every life is precious and that unborn autistic children should not be murdered and thrown away. I feel that there shouldn't be such a test, because I'm against prenatal testing of all types and this one would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I've seen what happened to babies with Down Syndrome and I've seen what's happened to children with Cerebral Palsy and Spina Bifida and I don't want the snowball effect to continue. I feel that all of those babies must be brought into this world as well. I'm glad that my mum didn't abort me, and I'm happy to be alive. Autism Speaks does not speak for me. Does it speak for you?

i cant believe i started a post people actualy responded to

I just have to ask... how can they have a genetic test for autism when, at this point, there is no conclusive proof as to what causes it?

If it's the study I saw, it's not genetic, it's based on "folds" in the placenta. How the heck they came up with this one is beyond me.

No causal connection, one study (that honestly makes no sense), and the usual media coverage.

If they'd be loved, I'd agree with you.

But unfortunately, we've got a society going that won't even allow these kids' parents to love them.

Mine loved me. Were stupid enough to tell me I was wonderful as I was.

You know what they got for it?? Same thing I got for loving my kids-- told that my problems were their fault because the spoiled me.

I would love to go back to loving my very probably ADHD kids. I miss the days when I let them jump up and down and play roughly and fight and talk too much, and didn't micromanage every aspect of their behavior. When cut-up hair and a messy house didn't have to be the end of the world. But-- that's not possible. I want them to survive in this world. Because I love them and want the best for them, I must treat them as if I find them disgusting and repulsive.

Think about that when you are criticizing your parents.

And-- No. I wish we had a world that couldaccept and love those children. I'm sure that's what [God] wants us to learn, why they keep being sent here. But honestly-- do you feel accepted?? Loved??? It's been a long time since I felt loved and accepted anywhere outside a mental ward.

I couldn't find the msn article (I automatically get the Dutch version and it's not on there), but I assume they mean this test.

https://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news ... d-variants

As usual, the media are crying wolf, when there is no wolf in sight. Frankly, so is the article above, but they are a bit more accurate. WHat it's saying is that there is a new technology (CMA - chromosomal microarray analysis) that makes it possible to detect copy number variations with more precision. Why they mention this is because of a publication in Nature of genomic research that detected a higher frequency of these copy number variations (repeated pieces of DNA) in a group of 996 individuals with ASD of European descent, compared to a controlgroup of about a 1000 people without ASD. That doesn't mean that these copy number variations are the cause of autism or that autism can be detected with a prenatal test.

That's my worst nightmare. I'm not anti abortion (I believe it's the mother's choice) but I don't believe it should happen because their aspies it's like the Personality version of aborting someone because they have ginger hair. We need aspies its a part of life.

Please tell me this is hyperbole.

I am worried about you, now.

I hope you understand that you can't generalize from your experiences. While you may have had negative experiences that you relate to your neurology, others have different lives. They don't call it a spectrum for nothing. And even for people who are very close on the spectrum, luck, circumstance, and personality issues unrelated to ASD result in widely varying experiences of life.

I hope you don't create a bad relationship with your children out of a desire to prevent them from having your life experiences--that could not happen to them no matter what. They are not you.