Autism Research Unit

[JenRose]

am back from cambridge.

i was at the ARC for about 2 hours, they took blood samples, asked lots of questions about what certain words meant like

"what is a bird" and "what does trend mean"

i had to do puzzles, they were timed.

i had to do a social story excercise and also some engineering puzzles.

then they photocopied my hands, not sure what for and that was it.

i did ask them questions, i asked did they see many females with AS and they said no, most of their volunteers for research were male

and that most females with AS who they did see have been dx,d later in adulthood.

they are testing for increased levels of protein in my blood and something to do with hormones.

i didnt get to see SBC, there was a person in his office but i dont know if it was him.

it was very interesting though, it was worth it just for the break in cambridge which is a beautiful city and to top it off last night

Michael Portillo walked right past me in the street, i think he,s a bit of allright, Dave didnt seem to share my excitement though!!!!

[Bullet]

The photocopying of the hand is because of the theory that autistic and aspergers people have longer ring fingers in relation to their other fingers, compared with people who aren't on the spectrum. In most women, the index and ring fingers are of the same length, however, with females on the spectrum it's believed they are of different lengths, with the ring finger being longer. This is true of myself, there is a definite difference with these two fingers on my hands.

The two questions sound odd. I could have talked about what a bird was quite easily, explaining about the possible link with the dinosaurs, linking up pterodactyls (recounting an urban myth about a pterodactyl found alive in 1860), talked about eggs and feathers and how you could get birds that can't fly, so that's not a defining characteristic and basically waffled on for ages. The trend question would be a bit harder, I know what it is, but explaining it, especially in verbal means is quite difficult. I just get this image of a graph with peaky lines.

How did you get on with the questions?

Edited July 11, 2007 by Bullet

[JenRose]

oh i didnt know that about the ring and index finger, on my right hand my ring finger is longer but im not sure on my left, they look the same length.

re the questions, some of them i laughed at, especially the bird one, re the trend one i said trend is something that a lot of people tend to follow and i do not.

oh have just measured my right hand and the ring finger is a tiny bit bigger than the index one.

they were watching me through an observation window, i knew this cos i could hear them whispering!!!!!

[Bullet]

Sorry, I just realised I made a mistake when typing my last post. I meant to say that in most women, the index and ring fingers are the same length, whereas with women on the spectrum the ring finger is longer. Sorry for any confusion. I've edited my post now.

Edited July 11, 2007 by Bullet

[karin]

jen rose i once was watching the news when the guy who owns mocrosoft (cant remember his name at the mom) and looked at his fingers they tended to curl in at an odd shape and then i realised my twins fingers do the same sort of thing probably nothing to do with why they photographed your fingers but just thought id mention it i was interested in the protein in the blood thing as i myself carry too much protein in my body and had a lot of it in my urine when i was pregnant with the twins wonder if i passed it on to them just another thought i have had dealings with cambridge i sent away for the cast test for the twins and this came back as high i e-mail one of their research assistants who has helped me from time to time would love to go there and see it although its only for adults glad you enjoyed your time there keep smilin luv karin

[bid]

OMG

 

The ring fingers on both my hands are a good centimetre at least longer that my index fingers!!

 

Mumble: did they look at your hands when you went to Cambridge??

 

Bid

[Mumble]

Mumble: did they look at your hands when you went to Cambridge??

No - but I was shaking so much and trying to bolt for the door (once they got me in the door to start with!) that having my hands still enough for long enough to measure accurately would have been an interesting challenge!!! However, SBC did talk about this at the lecture he gave recently at my uni. The differences in finger length are normally quite small (mm, not cm) but it's the ratio that's important. Again it brings in his 'male brain' theory, because exposure to higher levels of testosterone during foetal development would predispose the individual to have this 'abnormal' digit ratio. What he did say in the talk was that it's very difficult to measure accurately. Basically (which gives an idea but it actually has to be measured carefully by a professional) you measure, in mm, palm up, from the centre of the crease where the finger joins the palm to the longest point (and no, Bid, you don't count your nails, however sparkly they are ). And yes, my ring fingers are both longer than my index fingers.

 

Mumble

[JenRose]

karin-not just for adults, my research assistant told me that they research and test children with autism there also.

you might get a chance to go with your children one day.