Early Diagnosis of Autism not Easy as Symptoms are not Typical

Diagnosing autism in infancy is difficult, according to researchers. They found at six-months, children who were diagnosed with autism by three years, sharing equal developments displayed by children without autism.

"Regardless of diagnosis, the development of children with and without ASD appears similar at six months of age on clinical tests," Dr. Rebecca Landa, lead author and director of Kennedy Krieger's Center for Autism and Related Disorders, said in a news release. "However, for those children who went on to develop autism, the earliest signs of atypical development were non-specific to autism, such as general communication or motor delay."

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), that starts normally by age three is a developmental disorder that leads to significant social, communication and behavioral changes.

The findings, published recently in the journal Child Development come at a time when one in every 88 American children is affected by autism. As no medical or blood test is available for the early diagnosis of this disorder, the child's behavior and development are some of the factors used by health practitioners to determine the condition.

For the study, Dr. Landa and her colleagues included 204 infants, having a sibling with autism and 31 without any family history of autism. All the children involved in the study were followed until three years of age. At different stages ( six, 14,18, 24,30 and 36 months), researchers examined and measured different factors like language, communication, social-affective, motor and symbolic abilities plus symptoms of ASD.

Researchers found children with and without ASD displaying similar developments during infancy and communication delays more visible during the second year.

"If parents aren't seeing their children steadily develop new skills, they should talk to their pediatrician or contact their local early intervention program," Dr. Landa, said. "Results from this study show that communication delays are often present in the second year of life in children with autism, especially involving language comprehension."

Researchers also found children who displayed early signs of ASD showing greater developmental delays compared to children displaying symptoms of ASD later. However, by age three, the differences were found almost gone.