Autism and Myotonic Dystrophy

Autism and Myotonic Dystrophy

What Is Autism?

Autism or autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a behavioral diagnosis. The range of symptoms in autism vary and are generally characterized by an impaired ability to communicate and interact socially with other people. Sometimes children will not meet the diagnostic criteria for autism but will have “autistic-like features.”

The diagnosis of autism is usually made by a developmental or general pediatrician, neurologist, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other specialist. The diagnosis is made after evaluating the child using a number of different behavioral tools and tests. There is no blood test for autism, and imaging studies such as MRIs don’t diagnose the condition; it is purely a behavioral diagnosis similar to ADHD, ADD, etc.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder in Congential and Childhood Myotonic Dystrophy

Issues and problems with children that have congenital or juvenile myotonic dystrophy are many and hard to pin down. One of the most asked questions is about Autism and do children with Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy have Autism or Autism spectrum disorder. The basic criteria more are defined below for Autism like Features are before 3 years old the following 3 features are delayed or not present:

(A) social interaction,
(B) language as used in social communication
(C) symbolic or imaginative play

The most advanced countries in the world studying these diseases are in the Scandinavian countries. Sweden has taken the lead in publishing a number of English studies that have helped understand this condition.  Dr, Eckstrom and others have done a fine job in the area of pulling more information out of surveys and studies to assist us with the understanding of this disease. This article is going to summarize the results of a study that was finished in 2008. There is a lot of information here so it will be a longer post:

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