Cerebral Palsy and ASD

A new study has examined the outcomes of 126 children diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy using universally accepted Gold Standard diasgnotic schemes for the presence of ASD's.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19335564?

Of 126 subjects 15% met diagnostic criteria for either Autistic Disorder or PDD/NOS using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.

Adult stroke patients have also been consistently been shown, as a group, to be 'socially impaired'.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11796956?

All of these condition are associated with brain structural abnormalities with ASD and CP occuring during brain development and stroke affecting the fully developed brain.

My daughter, was diagnosed with PDD/NOS, and my Mom was diagnosed with stroke at age 73. At the time of diagnosis, the outlook for both was bleak. Remarkeably they both underwent many of the same evidenced based interventions, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.. and both had normal outcomes.

RAJ, I am so glad to hear that both your daughter and your mother had normal outcomes. That is wonderful.

Your point is very interesting. I suppose that as long as we are using rather external, behavioral criteria to diagnose autism spectrum disorders, any condition that results in some of the same behaviors or symptoms will, with enough items coinciding, meet the criteria for an ASD as set forth in the DSM-IV.