By KATRINA CAREFOOT

Researchers have found yet another way to approach solving the puzzle of autism – this time by comparing facial characteristics of a group of boys with autism to a group of typically developing peers. The catalyst behind this study, published in Molecular Autism, was the fact that the face and brain develop in tandem and influence each other from the embryonic state right through adolescence.

Sixty-four boys with autism and 41 typically developing boys aged eight to 12 years old were analyzed, using a camera system that captures a 3-D image of each child's head. The following distinct differences between the facial characteristics of the group of boys with autism and those of the typically developing boys were found:

• The children with autism were found to have a broader upper face, including wider eyes.
• The children with autism were found to have a shorter middle region of the face, including the cheeks and nose.
• The children with autism were found to have a broader or wider mouth and philtrum – the divot below the nose, above the top lip.

"If we can identify when these facial changes occur, we could pinpoint when autism may begin to develop in a child. Knowing that point in time could lead us to identify a genetic cause, a window of time when the embryo may be susceptible to an environmental factor, or both," says Kristina Aldridge, lead author and assistant professor of anatomy at the University of Missouri.

As the mother of a son with autism, I was curious as to whether or not these facial characteristics could be seen in my son’s face. I also wondered if there was a point in his young life when they became more apparent. In baby pictures, I don’t see any of these characteristics, but in a more recent photo of Max, I do see that he has more of a heart shaped face, and wide eyes. I don’t see any of the other characteristics that are pointed out. I have always thought that boys with autism are particularly striking. Maybe this is the reason why.
 
The only real issues I  have with this study are: the number of children in the study is relatively small, and while only boys were studied, conclusions are made regarding “children with autism.”

But according to Dr. Reg Reynolds, "This article reports on some ground-breaking research which may go a long way towards identifying the point in the foetus’s development when it is most vulnerable to developing the biological foundation for those behaviours that we associate with autism."

Studies such as these give me hope that one day the puzzle of autism will be unlocked. I hope that this study gets run again, but with larger numbers and a female population. In the meantime, I’m going to keep an eye on how Max’s face continues to develop.

Katrina Carefoot blogs at ficklefeline.ca. She is an Autism advocate, and is documenting her Autistic son Max's journey for a book she is writing on how to achieve a best outcome through early intervention and intensive therapy.

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