"Best Thing"? Really?

This news snipped caught my eye "Brain scan 'best thing so far' in detecting Autism." It seemed so cavalier that I clicked to the article.

I do not agree. At most, it's an interesting future diagnostic tool. I see it as more of a "best thing" for the people who perform the scans and conduct research than for the patient.

When James was first diagnosed, his pediatrician said "He can't be autistic. He looks you in the eye." I had to insist that he call in a referral to our Regional Center. They sent out a wonderful woman, who talked with his father and I, and tried engaging James in a series of activities. She listened; she handed us tissue when we teared up. She looked at James and took lots of notes. And she wrote up orders for O/T, Speech & Language therapy, and home visits for a developmental specialist, who later became a personal friend, mentor, and support.

Pardon me for snorting and being skeptical that a brain scan is better than anything that woman and those groups of nonprofits did and continue to do for our son.

Brain scans CAN: can help target patterns of activity in an individual's brain; help provide scientific evidence of aberrations in brain function; be costly and freak out the patients.

Brain scans do NOT: help a person interact with others; provide behavioral redirection; cure Autism; show which therapies might be most beneficial to an individual; open doors for therapies that will help the individual and their families to get the help and services they need.

So in my opinion, right now these new brain scans are really not the "best thing so far." So far the professional people who care and work with our kids are the best things. Ever.