2 Minute Autism Test In the Works

Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have developed a brain-imaging technique that may be able to identify children with autism spectrum disorder in just two minutes.

This test, while far from being used as the clinical standard of care, offers promising diagnostic potential once it undergoes more research and evaluation.

Researchers: Better Detection, Diagnosis Factors Behind Rise In Autism

The dramatic increase in the number of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder is largely the result of changes in how the condition is reported, Danish researchers contend.

At least in Denmark, the researchers say, most of the increase -- 60 percent -- can be attributed to changes in diagnostic criteria and the inclusion of out-of-hospital diagnoses.These findings should provide some relief for parents who've worried that the increase in numbers was caused solely by more kids actually developing the disorder, the study authors suggested.

At What Age Is Accurate Autism Diagnosis Possible?

Rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not creeping up so much as leaping up. New numbers just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that one in 68 children now has a diagnosis of ASD—a 30 percent increase in just two years. In 2002, about one in 150 children was considered autistic and in 1991 the figure was one in 500.

A clinician observes a child with his
mother at the Marcus Autism Center.

The staggering increase in cases of ASD should raise more suspicion in the medical community about its misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis than it does. Promoting early screening for autism is imperative. But, is it possible that the younger in age a child is when professionals screen for ASD—especially its milder cases—the greater the risk that a slow-to-mature child will be misperceived as autistic, thus driving the numbers up?

Study: Baby's Gaze May Signal Autism

When and how long a baby looks at other people’s eyes offers the earliest behavioral sign to date of whether a child is likely to develop autism, scientists are reporting.

In a study published Wednesday, researchers using eye-tracking technology found that children who were found to have autism at age 3 looked less at people’s eyes when they were babies than children who did not develop autism. But contrary to what the researchers expected, the difference was not apparent at birth. It emerged in the next few months and autism experts said that might suggest a window during which the progression toward autism can be halted or slowed.

Study: Training Pediatricians Will Help Identify Children with Autism Earlier

A training program designed to teach pediatricians to better identify kids with autism may be an effective way to decrease wait times and flag children with the developmental disorder at younger ages, researchers say.

Currently many children suspected of having autism wait months to see diagnosticians for an evaluation, but researchers say that training community pediatricians to conduct assessments may allow kids to enter treatment programs more quickly.

A Blood Test for Autism?

Earlier detection of autism, relying on markers in the blood, may help more children to take advantage of helpful behavioral therapies.
Diagnosing autism currently requires hours of observation by clinicians and a far from objective series of behavioral measures, but improvements in genetic testing could make the process more efficient.

Searching for the Onset of Autism

Early behavioral intervention has shown some promise as a way to help children with autism. But it’s difficult to see the hallmarks of autism before two years of age with today’s diagnostic criteria. Could we find other methods?
Seeking to answer that question is Jed Elison at the California Institute of Technology, who is working with Ralph Adolphs at Caltech and Joe Piven at the University of North Carolina among other colleagues around the U.S. and Canada. Elison provided some preliminary findings at the Neuromagic 2012 conference held from May 7 to 10, 2012 on San Simón, the Island of Thought, near Vigo, Spain.

Autism Researchers Seek Cause for Dramatic Rise

For many families, the quest for the causes of autism has grown more urgent with the news that the estimated prevalence of the condition grew by 23% from 2006 to 2008, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said last week.
In most cases, however, scientists can't tell parents what caused their child's autism, says Thomas Insel, director of the National Institutes of Mental Health. In large part, the causes of autism — which is likely not one disease, but a group of conditions with related symptoms — remain a mystery.

Autism on the Rise Among Blacks and Hispanics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- New estimates show it affects one in 88 American children — up from one in 110 in 2009 -- according to data collected by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who lead the Alabama Autism Surveillance project, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.
The new findings, released March 29, 2012, in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, are based on the 2008 surveillance year, which was completed in 14 ADDM sites. Children who were 8 years old in 2008 were eligible for the study based on criteria that were consistent across all the sites. Information was obtained from children’s evaluation records to determine the presence of autism spectrum disorder symptoms at any time from birth through age 8.
Autism spectrum disorders are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Since the multi-site surveillance began in 2002, there has been a 78 percent increase in the identification of autism in these selected communities. Martha Wingate, Dr.PH, director of the AASP and associate professor in the UAB School of Public Health, says the increase in autism diagnoses is likely due to multiple factors.

The Puzzle of More Autism Cases

An editorial from today's edition of The New York Times.

The latest federal survey suggests that more than 1 percent of all children in the country have been identified as having autism or two related disorders by the age of 8, a far higher percentage than found in previous surveys. But no one knows whether the increase shows that the disorders are more common or whether it simply reflects better detection of cases that would previously have been missed

MRI Sees Brain Changes in Infants with ASD

Autism may be detectable in infants as young as 6 months old, according to a study released Friday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggesting the condition has a stronger genetic and biological root.
The study, which tracked MRI images of 92 infants from 6 to 24 months, found that infants who went on to develop autism may have had brain abnormalities visible on MRI at 6 months of age, before the development of clinical symptoms.