BY PHOEBE HALL
ILLUSTRATION BY ILEANA SOON
Personalized
Treatment
GENETIC TESTING
CAN CHANGE THE
CARE, AND THE LIVES,
OF SOME PEOPLE
WITH AUTISM.
When Matt was diagnosed with
autism spectrum disorder, 16 years
ago, it helped explain some of the things that
had been troubling his parents for much of his
young life.
“He was hitting milestones up until 10
months,” his mother, Bianca Rossi, recalls.
(We have changed their names to protect
their privacy.) But several months later, Matt
was still nonverbal, and at his infant-toddler
program “he did a lot of things alone, and
didn’t play like the other toddlers did or with
them,” she says. ➻
HEALTH DISCOVERIES l WINTER 2019 19