<story><title>EEG Accurately Predicts Autism as Early as 3 Months of Age</title><url>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501085140.htm</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tejohnso</author><text>&amp;gt; Two children diagnosed with the disorder can have no overlapping symptoms.&lt;p&gt;Is there a precedent for this with other disorders? Seems to me that if there are no overlapping symptoms, it should be a separate disorder. Even if it&amp;#x27;s just arbitrary naming like &amp;quot;Type X&amp;quot; as in diabetes.</text></item><item><author>projectramo</author><text>This would be amazing if it works.&lt;p&gt;The reason I say &amp;quot;if&amp;quot; and hedge my words is because the conventional wisdom is that autism is not a single disorder with a single underlying condition. It is a cluster of symptoms of varying intensity and it is (likely) caused by a host of underlying conditions.&lt;p&gt;Two children diagnosed with the disorder can have no overlapping symptoms.&lt;p&gt;If that is right, then the first step is to break it down into different kinds of conditions. (No eye contact is caused by X. Speech issues are caused by Y).&lt;p&gt;However, if this test can effectively pick apart one of the underlying conditions and its symptoms that would be a huge step forward. We could definitively say whether a child has this particular version of &amp;quot;autism&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;After we tease apart a few more versions, the original condition will disappear and be subsumed by these other versions.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dwringer</author><text>This might not be the most authoratative source, and I&amp;#x27;m no medical expert, but this overview from Encyclopedia Britannica[1] nicely describes the diversity in how diseases are classified (I know we aren&amp;#x27;t using the term &amp;quot;disease&amp;quot; here but the concepts are presumably related in practice - I found this summary informative but welcome any informed corrections):&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; The most widely used classifications of disease are (1) topographic, by bodily region or system, (2) anatomic, by organ or tissue, (3) physiological, by function or effect, (4) pathological, by the nature of the disease process, (5) etiologic (causal), (6) juristic, by speed of advent of death, (7) epidemiological, and (8) statistical. Any single disease may fall within several of these classifications.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.britannica.com&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;human-disease&amp;#x2F;Classifications-of-diseases&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.britannica.com&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;human-disease&amp;#x2F;Classificat...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>EEG Accurately Predicts Autism as Early as 3 Months of Age</title><url>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501085140.htm</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tejohnso</author><text>&amp;gt; Two children diagnosed with the disorder can have no overlapping symptoms.&lt;p&gt;Is there a precedent for this with other disorders? Seems to me that if there are no overlapping symptoms, it should be a separate disorder. Even if it&amp;#x27;s just arbitrary naming like &amp;quot;Type X&amp;quot; as in diabetes.</text></item><item><author>projectramo</author><text>This would be amazing if it works.&lt;p&gt;The reason I say &amp;quot;if&amp;quot; and hedge my words is because the conventional wisdom is that autism is not a single disorder with a single underlying condition. It is a cluster of symptoms of varying intensity and it is (likely) caused by a host of underlying conditions.&lt;p&gt;Two children diagnosed with the disorder can have no overlapping symptoms.&lt;p&gt;If that is right, then the first step is to break it down into different kinds of conditions. (No eye contact is caused by X. Speech issues are caused by Y).&lt;p&gt;However, if this test can effectively pick apart one of the underlying conditions and its symptoms that would be a huge step forward. We could definitively say whether a child has this particular version of &amp;quot;autism&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;After we tease apart a few more versions, the original condition will disappear and be subsumed by these other versions.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>projectramo</author><text>I think there are precedents.&lt;p&gt;It happens because there is so much overlap in most patients, and symptoms tend to occur in clusters.&lt;p&gt;General delays in motor skills and language skills are quite prevalent in many conditions. If you google videos of kids with autism, you will see varied abilities.&lt;p&gt;I am hesitant to go into more detail because this is an area that causes a great deal of anxiety for parents and discussions are often sensitive. One surefire way to annoy a parent and get into an argument is to claim their kid does or does not have a condition that differs from their own opinion. (And I can see why it would bother them).</text></comment>