Autism can be diagnosed in one-year-olds’ developing brains

CHILDREN should be screened for autism from around the age of one, a study suggests, after it showed doctors can reliably test for the disorder far earlier than previously thought.

A trial found it was possible to diagnose autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with 84 per cent accuracy from 14 months. The finding offers hope of beginning therapy earlier, when they can make more of a difference on the developing brain.

Most of the roughly 18,000 British children with autism receive a diagnosis around the age of three or four. However, results of the trial by the University of California, San Diego suggest that the rapid development that typically takes place from 12 months offers an opportunity for identifying children who are progressing differently.

Previous studies found that beginning therapy such as learning, communication and social coaching at the earliest opportunity could yield significant benefits.

“From a public policy perspective, this finding suggests that it is important to initiate treatment immediately after an initial designation of ASD, even at the youngest ages,” the authors of the new paper wrote. “The human brain has an enormous capacity to resculpt and remodel, particularly during the first postnatal years.”

The researchers examined 1,269 toddlers who received their first diagnostic evaluation between the ages of 12 and 36 months and who had at least one subsequent evaluation. Overall, of the 400 children initially designated as having ASD, 336 retained that diagnosis on their final evaluation. Of the 16 per cent who did not, a majority were found to have a different developmental problem. No cure exists for autism, and the goal of doctors is to manage symptoms and maximise a child’s ability to function socially and educationally.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.