Jamie's dad

I am saddened to read so much red hot anger. If you don't have experience of ASD children, it is a natural suspicion. You'd probably suspect the same. Even some of my boy's teachers seem half-inclined to think it, to blame us a little. The media are bound to spread controversial gossip - that's pretty much their function. We can use opportunities like this to educate people. We can (some have) communicate better knowledge and facts to those involved. Surely, a small number of cases of ASD are misdiagnosed - the question for professionals is how many - and whether that number can be discovered and reduced.

Thanks to Jaded, I followed some of the references given ================================================= ================================================= This extract from one set of conclusions sums up what I found "The results of this study support previous findings suggesting a consistent association of unfavorable events in pregnancy, delivery, and the neonatal phase and the pervasive developmental disorders. However, interpretation of the meaningfulness of these results is difficult, as the specific complications that carried the highest risk of autism .... represented various forms of pathologic processes with no presently apparent unifying feature. Additional studies are needed..." I notice two things which are worth reporting to y'all 1) research is typically based on a smallish sample of autistic children and includes every variety of birth trauma. More convincing research would use a very large sample of one specific delivery method (e.g. ventouse), and look for a statistically significant higher incidence of autism in that sample. 2) there is strong complicating factor. Sometimes the delivery is forced BECAUSE the baby has already been distressed in the womb, perhaps suffering from a reduced blood supply. So what we think is the effect of the delivery method may in fact be the effect of the distress beforehand.

Thanks for the contributions. I realise we can't reach a conclusion from our own experiences. I am sure most autisitic people had normal births. And equally sure most aggressive deliveries by forceps or ventouse deliver children without autism. The question is rather whether research into a large sample has ever shown (in a statistically significant sense), that forced delivery methods have a tendency to trigger autism. If you Google on Autism + Ventouse, you can find a web site that mentions research which made a connection, but I couldn't see any reference to follow up, and I think the research was very old, since I think it was by Tinbergen - who was quoted in connection with Lorenz - a prehistoric psychologist if I remember correctly. P.S. my son was the 2nd born.

Perhaps the doctor has something useful to offer - for some conditions. However, an improved memory is certainly not what my autistic son needs! Autism is mentioned only tangentially: it doesn't seem to be at the core of what he is talking about; it looks like it has been thrown in at the last minute. Y'all attacking the Daily Mail could take a step back. The headline says 'controversial new book' and 'claims'. The Mail doesn't pretend to be a scientific journal. The Mail gives houseroom to controversial claims on just about everything, and that's actually a service of a kind. You happen to be senstive about this topic. There's plenty of worse baloney on the internet.

Our Jamie (now 7) is in the autistic spectrum. He has a 'statement' describing his condition as Aspberger's Syndrome - not that that makes any difference to us - in the autistic spectrum sums it up well enough. Jamie attends a normal school with learning support assistants, and is close to normal in terms of educational attainment - so far. He has a very good tape recorder like memory. His verbal skills are limited. His social skills are limited - or should I say unusual. He is very lively and difficult to keep under control. Anyway - to get to my question. Jamie was delivered by suction on his head from a ventouse. He arrived with a large fluid-filled swelling on the side of his head, which took some weeks to subside. We have always suspected that this may have something to do with his autism, though the doctor told us the brain was sufficiently protected by the cranial sac, and did not warn us of any risk. Does anybody know of any proper research (as opposed to speculation) that connects autism to birth deliery methods? especially ventouse delivery We read today (April 11th in the Daily Mail) an article about Dr Robin Pauc, who mentions a connection. And I can find some gossip via Google. We'd like to know the current state-of-the-art medical concensus. Jamie's dad