WASHINGTON - a simple checklist parents fill in the waiting room may help doctors to screen a day for warning signs of autism as early as the first anniversary of the baby.
San Diego pediatricians tested the tool with more than 10,000 babies to their 1-year exams, looking for items such as how toddlers babble, gesticulating and interact with others.
The research, being published Thursday, is a first step in the search for autism screening earlier. It is not ready for everyday use, as more work is needed to verify the accuracy. But it can also be useful to find babies at risk more to study what are the causes of the disorder of development.
"There are subtle signs of autism in a year if you just look for them, said neuroscientist Karen Pierce of the University of California, San Diego, who led the study." Just leave these children detected early and treated early. ?
Recent data suggest about 1,100 children U.S. has a shape any of autism, which ranges from mild to severe behaviour problems, socialization and communication. The American Academy of Pediatrics Urges already tours of screening for autism in the regular medical doctor at the age of 18 months and 24 months. However, a 2009 study found that children on average do not diagnosed that they're 5.
Experts say early therapy may reduce the severity of autism, even if they don't know exactly what will be best. "The sooner you start, better it is," said Dr. Lisa Gilotty of the National Institute of Mental Health, which contributed to funding the study.
Hence the interest of younger screening.
"It is very, to think that we are able to identify the children with autism present from the beginning, exciting work," said Dr. Susan Hyman, of the University of Rochester and a specialist in autism paediatric academy, which was not involved in the new study.
But, she warned, it is not clear how best to do so: "I think screening for Autism at 12 months is ready for the first time.".
Study of Thursday uses a 24-question written in terms easy to understand that parents may respond in five minutes approximately. It was developed a few years ago to detect wider sign language or developmental delay. Pierce signed 137 pediatricians to use the questionnaire in the balance sheet of each year and return the baby that is not to further testing. These young people have re-evaluated every six months at the age of 3, where a diagnosis could be certain.
Of currently selected babies, 184 were sent for further testing followed - and finally 32 have been diagnosed with autism, Pierce said Thursday in the journal of Pediatrics.
Which is consistent with expected that young detection rates; Hyman of Rochester said that some forms of autism become apparent until the age of 2 or even later.
Many other children have been diagnosed with language delay or some other problems of development, so that ultimately the screening predict with accuracy a problem some 75 per cent of these children, calculated Pierce. But there is 1 to 4, with no false alarm problem.
The children began treatment to approximately 19 months. Pierce program also MRI and other tests in broader research in the biological basis of autism studies now limited by the number of babies being identified as at risk when they are young.
A large puzzle: only a fraction of 1,318 total babies with no initial screening has received follow-up. The study could not say how much this gap was registration error, or if doctors or parents worried enough to follow immediately, or if the families went elsewhere.
Yet the study shows early screening is feasible in the hectic daily regular pediatricians offices. This is important because scientists now develop various screening tests, said Geraldine Dawson, Officer Chief science of Autism Speaks, whose work has co-financed.
Pierce said other cities should consider screening - but doctors must first know where to send the families for follow-up testing. That can cost several thousand dollars, and the programs of the State for a free assessment of children at risk can have waiting lists.
For now, what should worry parents? Top concerns of Pierce.
_Lack of what she calls "shared attention." 1 Year of age, babies should try to "pull your attention in their world," pointing to a bird and look to see if you look, for example, or to provide you with a toy, she said.
_Lack of shared enjoyment, where a baby can smile to mom, but not intervene if other people try peek-a-boo.
The behaviour of _Repetitive as a wheel of spinning, instead of playing with the toy.
Language delays are worrying if they accompany other signs of problem, she said: "if they wave and they point, it is a good sign the brain is characterized to be ready to take the floor."
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