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Because autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) can be diagnosed during preschool years, parents often confront the issue of whether to have additional children. This essay uses current scientific literature to address key questions raised by these parents.
There is as yet no prenatal test, but data from postmortem brains of children with autism (ages, 2–16 years) showed 67% higher neuronal cell counts in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex regions and 17.6% greater brain weights than matched nonautistic controls (JW Psychiatry Dec 5). These data, which evidence prenatal pathology, support the development of diagnostic procedures in infants.
Early diagnosis can be aided by the us…