Reaction to Smells May Help Diagnose Autism, Study Suggests
By Sindya N. Bhanoo
Most people instinctively take a big whiff when they encounter a pleasant smell and limit their breathing when they encounter a foul smell.
Children with autism spectrum disorder don’t make this natural adjustment, said Liron Rozenkrantz, a neuroscientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and one of the researchers involved with the study.
She and her colleagues report their findings in the journal Current Biology.
They presented 18 children who had an autism diagnosis and 18 typically developing children with pleasant and unpleasant odors and measured their sniff responses. The pleasant smells were rose and soap, and the unpleasant smells were sour milk and rotten fish.
Get the full story at The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/science/reactions-to-smell-may-help-diagnose-autism.html?_r=0
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