The Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP)

Amazon link

Here is a useful (free) technical overview of BAP.

I was struck by this remark (just before the 'Discussion' section):

"Finally, within the autism parent group the co-occurrence of specific BAP factors was examined within families, across mothers and fathers. Spearman correlation coefficients detected several significant associations between BAP features within families (see Fig. 5). Namely, correlations suggest that fathers positive for the “Language” factor were more commonly married to mothers positive for “Rigid” and “Social” factors, and those fathers who were positive on the “Social” factor were more often married to mothers positive on the “Language” factor."

So what is the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP)? This article gives an overview:

"Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning a person can be a little autistic or very autistic, and individuals can have varying symptoms. The term broad autism phenotype describes an even wider range of individuals who exhibit problems with personality, language, and social-behavioral characteristics at a level that is considered to be higher than average but lower than is diagnosable with autism. Individuals who meet the criteria of the broad autism phenotype are identified through a test called the "Social Responsiveness Scale."

It is theorized that parents who are a part of the broad autism phenotype are more likely than other parents to have multiple children with autism. Some studies seem to support this theory.

How the Broad Autism Phenotype Is Diagnosed

Several different people have developed questionnaires to evaluate individuals for "BAP." People using the questionnaire are asked to rank themselves on a scale of 1-5 on such statements as:

• I like being around other people
• I find it hard to get my words out smoothly
• I am comfortable with unexpected changes in plans
• I would rather talk to people to get information than to socialize

Answers to these questions are compared to a norm and, at least in theory, provide a quick answer to the question "am I just a touch autistic?"

In fact the tests described in the book shown top-of-page, The Broad Autism Phenotype (Advances in Special Education Book 29) describes in detail a number of well-attested instruments which are considerably more sophisticated than these simple questions.

I'm still engrossed in it - and seeing patterns in my own life.

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Update: I finished the book and I'm underwhelmed. Lots of impressionistic tests described with confusing, ambiguous results. Plainly we have no sound, compelling paradigm to conceptualise the autism spectrum, or to distinguish extreme cases of autistic dysfunction from high-performing Asperger's.

Absent a strong input from GWAS - years out - the psychologists in this book are just blundering around in the dark.