Parents magazine . . . fail

Florak8

The August issue has a short article titled "An Autism Red Flag" stating that if a child has a head lag at six months, s/he is more likely to be DX with autism at age 3. Ok, fine. But the accompanying picture is captioned: "A simple test can put your mind at ease."

I am so tired of people perpetuating the false concept that one or two appropriate behaviors means a child will not have autism.

I also find this disconcerting because my own child has neurological problems resulting in head-lag, and benefited from early physical therapy, and this article does not mention anything about hypotonia or other health issues causing head lag. 

His(1&only)wife

-auntie-:

And my child never had head lag...

Neither did mine.

finsup

CnAmom:

His(1&only)wife:

-auntie-:

And my child never had head lag...

Neither did mine.

Or mine.

 Me either.

4Speedy

His(1&only)wife:

-auntie-:

And my child never had head lag...

Neither did mine.

my kid has the head lag.  But he doesn't have autism.  So much for that test. 

st.augbride

Ds's head dropped from 50th to 6th in utero from severe IUGR. His head is still between 6th and 10th today. He has minor neurological issues and low muscle tone, but does not have autism. I checked my own head and it's 6th for women my age too. I haven't read that article, but I usually find issues with how these things are written.

st.augbride

Also, am I wrong or didn't I used to read/hear that larger head size was associated with ASD?

Spring Fever

CnAmom:

st.augbride:

Also, am I wrong or didn't I used to read/hear that larger head size was associated with ASD?

Yes, there has been some research possibly linking large head size to autism. This is something that actually applies for us.

Us too! 

redhotchili83

This whole head thing cracks me up!  I have a class full of boys with autism and I was looking at them one day.  2 of them had "large" heads, 1 had a very small head, and 5 had average sized heads.  So much for heads!

 My NT son is a bobble head, BTW

CagleBaby

FloraK8:

I am so tired of people perpetuating the false concept that one or two appropriate behaviors means a child will not have autism.

I agree. My niece has so many signs. Her pedi has even told my SIL and BIL she needs to be tested, but since she just said her first word (she is almost 3) my SIL and my MIL think she is just fine and are ignoring the drs. They don't see the bigger picture.  

robynlesley

I think they are being too simplistic and are doing readers a disservice.

st.augbride

-auntie-:

When they talk head lag, they're not talking about size. They're talking about muscle control  in the neck that causes the child's head to come along with the body when raised from a supine position. Kind of make sense that kids with hypotonia (which is common in autism) would have trouble with this test.

The "risk" factor associated with autism and head size is more about growth rate than actual size, though many kids who went through a major cranial growth spurt do end up in the 95% tile.

Ah, thanks for the clarification! Though, head lag would be apparent in almost any kid with lower muscle tone.