Scientific brain linked to autism? Maybe, maybe not.

By John M Grohol PsyD
January 30, 2006

I wish I had access to the full text of this article, because it looks like one of those articles which is not a study at all, just an opinion piece (it’s in a section entitled, Perspectives, which seems to me to suggest it is exactly just that). Opinion pieces, while providing food for thought, are sometimes mistaken by the mainstream media as new research or confirmatory data, of which they are usually neither.

If anyone would like to share the article’s text with me, or know someone over at the BMJ Publishing Group or Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health who could get a copy to me, I’d greatly appreciate it. The article appears in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Highly analytical couples, such as scientists, may be more likely to produce children with autism, an expert has argued.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, of the University of Cambridge, said the phenomenon may help explain the recent rise in diagnoses.

He believes the genes which make some analytical may also impair their social and communication skills.

A weakness in these areas is the key characteristic of autism.

It is thought that around one child in every 100 has a form of autism - the vast majority of those affected are boys.

The number of diagnoses seems to be on the increase, but some argue this is simply because of a greater awareness of the condition.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues, and the intersection of technology and psychology since 1992.