[Effervescence]

According to a report from MSNBC, a new study by the University of Missouri suggests that children with autism may have wider eyes and distinct facial features. 

Read more

[Effervescence]

This is interesting to me because my son, who has been diagnosed with autism, also has a genetic deletion that commonly causes distinct facial features. As described in the article, these features can't really be picked out in a crowd, but are noticed by people who commonly work with kids who have the deletion. The deletion can cause autism or autistic like tendencies, developmental delays, and a myriad of health problems including heart and kidney issues.

Even though no physical mechanism has been found yet for the majority of autism cases, I am very sure that it has a lot to do with genetics. Perhaps one day they will find the answer

[Spyctre]

I have a daughter with it, and never really noticed anything strange about her face, but when I went through some of her pictures after I read this article, she has these characteristics as well. I just assumed she inherited someone's button nose. Definitely not mine or DH's. lol We have honkers.

She's 11 months here:


And a year and a half here:



She's shown signs since she was around 8 months, long before the MMR shot. Pretty neat to see the similarities. I think it has a lot to do with genetics as well, Effervescence. I don't have the features, but I had some very strong autistic tendencies growing up. High school was a nightmare, and I didn't start to really understand things till I was 25. My father also shows some signs of autism, and a couple of cousins from his side of my family are autistic. I never met my paternal grandfather, but how people describe him I am fairly sure he was as well.