The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders is growing, yet most are not diagnosed until around age 4 through the conventional method of behavior detection. Presentation such as, "How Infants and Their Brains Develop: Early Signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder" offer guidance and information to parents and professionals.  However, parents may not recognize symptoms – or don’t know what symptoms to look for – until children are about 30 months old.  When they do express concerns about the development of their child they may be told,"don't worry, he will grow out of it!"

If risks, even in the absence of a diagnosis, can be identified earlier, children are at a greater advantage of receiving treatment.  Studies indicate that preschoolers who receive intensive treatment have greater IQ scores and language gains than those whose treatment begins later.  Scientists are now using new techniques to study children as young as a few months old to screen them for possible autism, as reported in this Wall Street Journal article.

One screening tool is an eye-tracking test.  Canada’s McMaster University and Yale University’s Toddler Developmental Disabilities Clinic are using this technology to study children as young as 3 months.  The systems administer eye-tracking tests and use eye-movement sensors to predict the risk of autism in young children.
"Children with autism in general have difficulty extracting affective information from faces, and also difficulty in recognizing faces," says Katarzyna Chawarska, director of the Yale clinic. Chawarska says that through tracking eye movements, "we can begin to understand what interests them, how they examine objects they select for processing, and what motivates them intrinsically.”
Eye-tracking won’t detect all children with autism, however, since not all children will cooperate with the testing equipment and autism manifests itself in different ways at different times.
One example of using this technology successfully comes from the Yale clinic, where Caleb Scott, 17 months, has been monitored from birth. Caleb's older brother is autistic, which raises his odds of developing autism.  Dr. Chawarska and her team performed standard autism evaluations and then tracked Caleb's eyes while he watched clips from "Sesame Street" and images of faces. Caleb’s mother, Katie Scott, is encouraged by the patterns.  “I see him watching the eyes and the mouth, I see him looking at the right-side-up face instead of the upside-down one. All of that gave me hope right away."
Autism specialists don’t intend for this new technology to replace traditional assessment, which includes human observation, but rather to complement existing assessment tools.  "There is something about a clinician that adds to the predictive value," says Catherine E. Lord, director of the University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center. Dr. Lord headed up the team that, in the 1980s, developed the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule that became the standard assessment for autism.

There is no available genetic or blood test to prove autism, although most experts agree there is a biological basis to autism, and that autism may be inherited.

Early intervention is helpful, however.  "By providing very intensive early intervention, we can significantly reduce the symptoms of autism," says Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of advocacy group Autism Speaks. But, she says, "there is huge variation in how children respond to early intervention."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 560,000 Americans under age 21 are affected by autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger's syndrome and the disorder is found in 1 in every 150 children by age 8.  This number is more than 10 times that reported in the 1980s.

Greater screening, a wider range of diagnostic standards, or an actual increase in the number of cases may be at work here, but regardless, some advocacy groups like the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, are against the search for a cure.  "We are very supportive of early diagnosis and early education," says Ari Ne'eman, the group's president. "We shouldn't be trying to force normalcy on autistic children, but rather help children acquire skills, communication, and quality of life," he says.  However, the group wishes for autistic children to be accepted for who they are.
The McMaster University study, according to researchers, is the first to find statistical differences in young children.  Of the 43 children studied, 13 had siblings with autism, which increases their risk for autism by a factor of 8.  The group with an increased risk did show lower scores than those with no known risk.  The lead researcher, Mel D. Rutherford, says that the study only compares the two groups, but she expect that, after refining the study, her lab "will be able to construct a predictor score for each individual infant."  A report of the study is available at www.earlyautismstudy.org.

Early intervention does help some children.  Debbie Page says early action helped her son Gabe, diagnosed with autism at 30 months, who spent 6 months, 250 hours of therapy, in an early-intervention study at the Kennedy Krieger Institute Center for Autism and Related Disorders in the Page's home town of Baltimore.  Page reports that her son became more socially engaged and stopped his nervous humming.  "He came out like a songbird," she says.
MIT's Media Lab researchers are developing software to analyze videos of autistic children and are collaborating with the Groden Center, a school and treatment center for autistic kids in Providence, R.I.  Video analysis, according to Deb Roy, director of the Cognitive Machines Group at the Media Lab, can help families track their child’s progress.  Early intervention is expensive, but may ultimately reduce costs for parents by allowing them to avoid sending their children to specialized, private schools.
Only 8 states have passed bills that mandate private insurers cover autism and related disorders; a Pennsylvania bill is waiting to be signed by the governor. (To find out what states require coverage, go to autismvotes.org and click the State Initiatives tab.) According to Elizabeth Emken, vice president of government relations for Autism Speaks, 27 more states have autism initiatives in the works.