The media appear to take only two messages from biomedical research; this will give us a cure for X, or this will help early diagnosis of X. In the case of autism, the researchers often collude with these unrealistic interpretations by their failure to understand basic issues about sensitivity and specificity. See my blog http://tinyurl.com/33fwmsx for other examples. Further, as Griffin & Westbury point out, this is made worse in the infant sibs literature by a growing tendency to assume ALL sibs of children with autism have subclinical impairments, even though the genetics and family studies indicate otherwise. Very glad to see this paper, which deserves wide circulation.
This needs shouting from the rooftops
31 May 2011
The media appear to take only two messages from biomedical research; this will give us a cure for X, or this will help early diagnosis of X. In the case of autism, the researchers often collude with these unrealistic interpretations by their failure to understand basic issues about sensitivity and specificity. See my blog http://tinyurl.com/33fwmsx for other examples.
Further, as Griffin & Westbury point out, this is made worse in the infant sibs literature by a growing tendency to assume ALL sibs of children with autism have subclinical impairments, even though the genetics and family studies indicate otherwise.
Very glad to see this paper, which deserves wide circulation.
Competing interests
none