A new research study is suggesting that autism may be recognized in babies that are as young as two months.
United States scientists analyzed how infants looked at various faces from birth to the age of three and they discovered children diagnosed later with autism had shown reduced eye contact, which is a trademark of autism, in their beginning months of life.
These findings, which were printed in Nature magazine, have raised hope for early involvements to challenge autism, said an expert located in the United Kingdom.
In the study, researchers which were led by the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA used technology that tracks eye movement to measure the way babies observed and reacted to social hints.
These early indicators are very important for doctors to recognize because the sooner a child can be diagnosed as having one of these ailments, such as autism, then the faster intervention can begin.
The study group discovered that infants who were later found to have autism displayed a steady deterioration in paying attention to eyes of other individuals from the age of about two months on up, when viewing videotapes of normal human exchanges.
Head study scientist Dr. Warren Jones explained that the study informed them that for the first time it is conceivable to be able to spot some kind of hints of autism in a child’s first months of life. He added that what they viewed were the first autism signs that they had ever seen in babies so young.
The study tracked nearly 60 infants who carried a high danger of autism because they all had siblings who had the disease, and about 51 infants who were considered to be in low jeopardy of having the disorder.
Dr. Jones and a colleague by the name of Dr. Ami Klin shadowed the children up until to the age of three, and then the children were properly evaluated to see if they had autism.
Out of the children, two girls and 11 boys were detected as having various autism spectrum disorders. They were placed on a scale which included autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
The researchers then returned to the eye-tracking information they had collected, and what they found was startling.
In infants that have autism, their eye contact has started to decline in the first six months of their life, explained Dr. Jones, but this type of information could only be detected with very modern equipment and would not be something that parents could see.
If fathers and mothers have worries about autism or Asperger’s syndrome, then they need to be talking to their pediatrician, Dr. Jones added.
Both autism and Asperger’s syndrome are parts of an assortment of related developing ailments known to the scientific community as autistic spectrum disorders or ASD.
They start off in childhood and last as the child grows into an adult.
ASD may cause an extensive array of symptoms that are assembled into three different categories including impaired communication skills, problems with social interaction and unusual patterns of behavior and thought.
Caroline Hattersley, who is the head of advice, information and advocacy at the National Autistic Society, stated that this research was only based on an extremely tiny sample of children and would need to be repeated on a much bigger scale before any tangible decisions could ever be drawn from the findings. Autism is too complex to define from such a small group.
There are no two people in the world which have autism who are the same. So it takes a holistic approach to help aid in the diagnosis. It is also vital that every aspect of a person’s actions and behavior be taken into consideration. A more widespread attitude lets a person’s support needs to be recognized.
Hattersley added that it is essential that all individuals who have autism can get a proper diagnosis, as this may be the key to unlocking the correct care they need in which they are able to reach their top potential.
If autism is being recognized in young babies. than the children might have all the chances in the world to reach the best of their abilities.
By Kimberly Ruble
