Different Kinds of Autism

Evan Eichler, a genome professor from the University of Washington does a study and predicts there a several kinds of autism. Eichler does a test between two boys Geoffrey Ondrich and Waylon Cude that are the same age and both have autism. Both boys are attached to their computer and that is the only thing that is similar between the two. Waylon likes to play video games and is more serious than Geoffrey. Geoffrey on the other hand like to go on the computer and listen to music or watches shows or movies. When Waylon is being tested, he is asked to do a serious of motor tests. When he gets something wrong Waylon automatically gets angry at himself and makes a pouting face. When asked questions, Waylon is polite but is only engaged in the conversations that are factual, anything else he says quiet. Geoffrey on the other hand before testing was able to use his iPad and found his favorite song and he starts bopping and dancing in his chair and when the music is off he sits in his chair rocking back and forth and slapping his right hand on his left wrist. With these results, researchers say autism is a heterogenous disorder. They looked at disorders that are similar to autism which is Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.

"Beginning in the mid-2000s, microarray technology revealed that people with autism tend to carry many copy number variations, deletions or duplications of large stretches of DNA that encompass multiple genes. Researchers soon saw that people who harbor the same copy number variants often share other characteristics and symptoms as well"(Eichler). As a results, it is proven that no autism patient is the same, and all have their unique characteristics.

I think it is good that as a society we are growing to treat people with disorders and individuals and appreciate their uniqueness. Im sure that back in the day anyone with a disorder was treated and looked at the same. Their treatments were probably not as effective as they are now since everyone was treated the same and not to each individual needs.

Link:http://www.wired.com/2014/11/autism-genetics/