I read this with interest and thought I'd post it to be shared.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1116602/Why-face-truth-Having-autistic-child-wrecks-life-.html
Now, I expect there could be some strong reactions to this, but it could be important to remember that autism covers a huge scale of behaviours, some which include very self involved, violent and torturous behaviour. Some are blessed with extra intellect or ability.
Either way, it is an interesting article.

I have read the article and posted a reply to it.
I dont agree with the screening.

Shocking article!!!

cant even imagine that the parents of Tom would give their permission for this to be printed!!

FWIW i dont actually think that Tom is real!!

I am totally against screening! how on earth would they do that? .................oh its ok we will keep the clever ones and abort the ones that are low functioning??

total madness IMHO

I am the Mum of a 9 year old Boy who has ASD and ADHD.
I have read this article which I have to say made me cry, possibly because of the realisation of what is faced on a daily basis. I am not in agreement of screening, this is of course my opinion. Yes, life is difficult with these Children and their behaviour impacts on every area of your life. It chances you as a person possibly because of all the battle's that you have to face as well as dealing with the daily difficulties this condition brings. But still I would not change my Child, he has taught me so much and his Autism is part of him. Let's hope if nothing else that this article bring's some understanding and patience from the general public who imo are often quick to judge what is a very misunderstood condition.
Thx.
x

My OH has asked me to state that the article is representing a very severe case. All Autistic Children/Adults are different hence the term spectrum. Many Autistic Children lead fullfilling lives and bring great pleasure to their families regardless of the difficulties.

The Guardian started this debate about screening for autism in a front page article on 12/1 with a totally inaccurate headline. There is no screening test and the research described in the article did not even test children with autism.

The researchers published their response in the Guardian here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/20/research-autism-health-response-comment

Here is a quote from their response, just to make it clear there is no screening test

'To be fair to the reporter, Sarah Boseley, the content of her articles was mostly correct. But the headlines and photo captions have led to emails from hundreds of worried parents of children with autism erroneously believing that our research is being conducted with a view to wanting to terminate children with autism in the womb - a nasty and sinister example of eugenics that my co-authors and I oppose.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2008/nov/18/autism-special-needs-education
Another interesting article here.