Autism/ASD is not a valid Biological Diagnosis


It's September again and about time most Autism “Experts”, therapists, advocates, charities and journalists went back to school as well



Today’s post is a brief one to highlight a mainstream scientific paper that highlights what regular readers will have already determined; autism/ASD is not a valid diagnosis.  Hundreds of different biological dysfunctions may lead to behaviors, in some shape or form, that will be diagnosed as autism.

So a behavioral diagnosis of autism is just the start of the process to determine what the biological problem(s) are.

Several readers have already highlighted the paper, but it is important enough for its own post.

This also means that clinical trials that are based on a group of subjects with completely different biological dysfunctions, but vaguely similar behavioral issues, are likely often to be of little value.

Fortunately, there are shared pathways affected by many of these numerous biological dysfunctions, so there will be some therapies that apply to clusters of subjects. 


ASD Validity
ASD research is at an important crossroads. The ASD diagnosis is important for assigning a child to early behavioral intervention and explaining a child’s condition. But ASD research has not provided a diagnosis-specific medical treatment, or a consistent early predictor, or a unified life course. If the ASD diagnosis also lacks biological and construct validity, a shift away from studying ASD-defined samples would be warranted. Consequently, this paper reviews recent findings for the neurobiological validity of ASD, the construct validity of ASD diagnostic criteria, and the construct validity of ASD spectrum features. The findings reviewed indicate that the ASD diagnosis lacks biological and construct validity. The paper concludes with proposals for research going forward.








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