Brain Stuff and Autism Symptoms

I keep reading interesting articles like this one
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-102815.html . The articles talk about different areas of the brain that do or do not ‘light up’ when different situations presents itself. Usually the situations that are looked at are situations which highlight one of the many autism symptoms. This one in particular is about personal space and the different part of the brain, in this case the amygdala, which work. The amygdala works quicker when another person gets close, close enough to make us uncomfortable. In people with autism this does not happen. Even when people get nose to nose too close.

I keep reading articles like this and find them interesting for a couple of reasons. The first one being that we can tell which areas of the brain are used in different behaviors. I just find that interesting. The second reason I keep reading being that if we can tell which areas of the brain are not responding, when will we be able to use the information to make a diagnosis?

I remember years ago thinking that there must be more to it than this. You go to a doctor, they ask you a few questions about when or if your child does things, they look at a list of autism symptoms and then the doctor tells you a diagnosis. It just seemed like there should be more to it than that. But there wasn’t. There was no blood test or anything else. Of course they took blood but that wasn’t it. Anyway I keep reading these types of articles and trying to understand…