I came across this reprint of a Scientific American article:
http://www.autistics.cc/Autism/sciamtwo.html
It says autistic people have distinct look about them. I myself have noticed since I was a child that my ears are unusual in shape.
Aside from their behavioral symptoms, people with autism have often been described not only as normal in appearance but as unusually attractive. They are certainly normal in stature, with normal-to-large heads. The few studies that have tested nonbehavioral features of people with autism, however, have concluded that there are indeed minor physical and neurological anomalies in many cases, and they are the same ones noted in thalidomide-induced autism. For example, minor malformations of the external ears -- notably posterior rotation, in which the top of the ear is tilted backward more than 15 degrees, are more common in children with autism than in typically developing children, children with mental retardation or siblings of children with autism. Dysfunctions of eye movement had been associated with autism before the thalidomide study, and lack of facial expression is one of the behaviors used to diagnose the condition.
Child with autism is normal in appearance, at least to the untrained eye. But he has a few physical anomalies characteristic of the disorder. The corners of his mouth are low compared with the center of his upper lip, and the tops of his ears flop over (left). His ears are a bit lower than normal and have an almost square shape (right).
The corners of my mouth are low, which I had always attributed to not smiling much.
Looking at mine, my son's and Gareth's ears I cannot see anything unusual at all.
I never realized that people on the spectrum had a unique look to them, other than appearing younger than their actual age. That boy looks like Hayley-Joel-Osbourne though. It would make sense if Hayley was Aspie, because he really is like a mini-adult.
He looks alot like what my cousin (ADD; not autistic) and I looked like at that age (my ears flop over, and have a similar shape).
Both my ears, from the frontal view, look very much like that boy's. They both have that squarish shape and flop over a tad. Actually, they look almost identical to his. Except that from the side they don't look as round, and my left ear sticks out a little more.
Aren't these same sorts of abnormalities though found in joint hypermobility disorders? And joint disorders are more common in ASDs... which could account for why some of us have such features if there's a genetic link between ASDs and JHS.
Joint Hypermobility Syndrome
See pictures and description under \"Typical JHS Facial Appearance\".
It does, despite that it hasn't been well-researched. The ear anomaly bit came in part from this research study done in Nova Scotia:
Teratology
Volume 55, Issue 5 , Pages 319 - 325
In the context of an epidemiological study of autism in Nova Scotia, subjects were evaluated for minor physical anomalies and physical measurements. Normal control children, children with autism and their siblings, and children with developmental disabilities and their siblings were compared. Posterior rotation of the external ears was found to be a characteristic related to autism specifically, rather than to developmental disabilities in general. Small feet and normal-to-large hands also were observed in the autism group. Children with autism had a significant reduction in interpupillary distance, but not intercanthic distance or head circumference. In contrast, children with other developmental disabilities were notable for general small stature, which affected the hands, feet, eyes, and head size, as well as height. Abnormal ear configuration was the minor malformation most characteristic of the developmental disability group, and the subset of Down syndrome children had single transverse creases of the palm and epicanthic folds that resulted in significantly increased rates of these anomalies in the developmentally disabled controls. Siblings of the two disabled groups were not significantly different from normal controls on any of the measures that characterized children with autism or other developmental disabilities. The results agree with those of several previous studies, which have suggested that abnormalities of the ears are the general category of minor anomalies most associated with autism. Recent evidence regarding the embryological origin of autism suggests that the ear effects may be an important marker of the initiating events that lead to the disorder. Teratology 55:319-325, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
weblink
I'd imagine one reason why this hasn't gotten much study time is because of the negativity associated with the term \"phrenology\". It's currently considered, in large part, a joke because of its ridiculous beginnings.
However, based in science, some phrenology is reliable. Such as characteristics associated with Down's Syndrome or Williams'.
I always thought having a larger than normal head size and a blank or unusual facial expression were characteristics of many people on the spectrum. I also read somewhere that loose joints is another trait that may be present. I looked at the pictures on JHS website. I can bend my elbow back just like in the picture. I can also bend my wrist forward so my thumb touches my arm. I used to be able to bend my wrist backwards all the way but not anymore. This is first time I read anything about us having abnormal ears.
I always thought having a larger than normal head size and a blank or unusual facial expression were characteristics of many people on the spectrum. I also read somewhere that loose joints is another trait that may be present. I looked at the pictures on JHS website. I can bend my elbow back just like in the picture. I can also bend my wrist forward so my thumb touches my arm. I used to be able to bend my wrist backwards all the way but not anymore. This is first time I read anything about us having abnormal ears.
I've been reading up on the big head thing. It seems there's some debate between whether the larger head is just in earlier childhood or whether it continues, since there have been cases where, come adolescence, the head is average size, and then other cases where the person's head has continued to be large.
And more recently there's been conflicting research studies done on that. But whatever they can't seem to agree on, they've all mostly agreed that at least the amygdala and hippocampus tend to be larger, even if the head is no longer considered above the 97th percentile in circumference.
hmm...the mouth looks just like mine in a natural state...some teeth showing, not a nt smile.
something i would like to know...are autistics more likely to breathe through their mouthes than non autistics? i think that is part of the reason why my mouth is like that normally to breathe.
Don't know. I'd suspect people with problematic sinuses definitely breath out of their mouths more often. But as for whether autistics are more prone to have sinus problems, I have no idea.
I guess the face is different on autistics because they use their face differently. I guess many autistic's faces often look different, but because autistics are very different from eachother their face would also be. Ears?
There's certainly a geeky appearance.
Alison, not sure. I've got small ears that are very flat to the side of my head, and not much earlobe. I also have few wrinkles on my face as I don't have as many expression lines as most women my age.
Nearly all aspie males I know have very long, dark eyelashes and most of them are tall but apart from that I haven't noticed anything much different in their appearance from anybody else. Perhaps some of their mannerisms are a bit different eg. putting their hand over their eyes or something like that.
Alison, not sure. I've got small ears that are very flat to the side of my head, and not much earlobe. I also have few wrinkles on my face as I don't have as many expression lines as most women my age.
That's interesting about the lack of lines in the face, and seems to be another defining feature of autism. I wonder if we have a "slowed down" maturation time? I know that at 46 I tend to act like a child in a lot of ways. Maybe there's something about us physically that keeps us in a permanent state of youthfulness?
Alison
For some odd reason, since I received the diagnosis of autism, I seem to have regressed into childhood ways in some areas eg. crying a lot more easily.
maybe because you no longer feel you 'must' behave in a certain way.?that is to say,you no longer suppress it so.
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Even in the years before the diagnosis, I started standing up for myself more. From the time I was very little, other people often bullied me physically and psychologically and so there is still a fair bit of suppressed anger and sadness.
It seems very common for aspies to get bullied, and it seems as if the other children and adults could tell something was a bit "odd" about me from an early age. It's possible they got annoyed because I wouldn't accept any statements that were obviously false.
I was diagnosed with hypermobility a year ago -- for some reason nobody saw it until I went to a specialist for jaw problems, and he tested me (I think the only Beighton criterion I don't meet is hands flat on floor, and that's possibly because my armspan is 4 inches shorter than my height). My mother and grandmother have various parts of that, including both joint stuff and some things that I don't have (like extremely loose skin and prolapsed organs) that are apparently related. My mom, unlike me, has normal length arms and can do the hands flat on floor thing that I can't do.
It's possible, by the way, to be extremely hypermobile in one joint but not so much in others. When I was fitted for ring splints, the occupational therapist checked each of my fingers, and each of the joints in each of the fingers, and they all had varying degrees of hypermobility, in varying directions at that.
My mother and I have slightly different patterns of which joints are hypermobile, too.