New Gene Studies Suggest There Are Hundreds of Kinds of Auti

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aspiesavant
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10 Feb 2015, 12:04 pm

Interesting article:

New Gene Studies Suggest There Are Hundreds of Kinds of Autism

Excerpt:

Quote:
“What we’ve learned in the last five years about the underlying genetics is that there are hundreds, if not a thousand or more, different genetic subtypes of autism,” says geneticist David Ledbetter, chief scientific officer at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania.

Rather than recruiting people with autism based on outward characteristics, some researchers are turning this flood of genetic information into an advantage: They are classifying children with autism based on their genetics, and thoroughly characterizing each subgroup to map autism’s landscape as a whole. These ‘genetics-first’ studies, including the one in which Waylon and Geoffrey participate, may help researchers to construct a meaningful taxonomy of autism and understand the source of its diversity. Eventually, such studies may even lead to treatments that address the root cause of a child’s autism, rather than just the symptoms.



Shauna88
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10 Feb 2015, 1:20 pm

I can believe it. I have seen people with particular types of autism that almost seem brain damaged (lack of oxygen in the womb?) others who function quite well and even those with particular "facial features" that I would peg as having some type of syndrome (fragile x?).

As for myself I have a rather unusual type of ASD myself as I have never had sensory or empathy problems (picking up on social problems) but still have many autistic behaviours and diagnosis. My biological father I strongly believe had this exact type of autism, he could "pass" socially like me as an NT but after a while he would just start crash in front of people and his awkwardness would be exposed. He had very similar obsessive behavior to me as well..