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Research tool can detect autism at nine months of age |
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May 15, 2008 -- The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age has sparked immediate and widespread interest in the media. |
The Early Autism Study, led by Mel Rutherford,
associate professor of psychology in the Faculty of Science's Department of
Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, has been using eye tracker technology that
measures eye direction while the babies look at faces, eyes and bouncing balls
on a computer screen. Rutherford will present her peer-reviewed
research tomorrow at the 7th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research in
London, England. |
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Mel Rutherford, associate
professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience &
Behaviour. File photo. "What's important about this study is that now
we can distinguish between a group of siblings with autism from a group with no
autism -- at nine months and 12 months," says Rutherford. "I can do this in 10
minutes, and it is objective, meaning that the only measure is eye direction;
it's not influenced by a clinician's report or by intuition. Nobody's been able
to distinguish between these groups at so early an age." Currently, the earliest diagnostic test for
autism is reliable around the age of two. Rutherford believes that the earlier
the diagnosis, the better the overall prognosis. "There is an urgent need for a quick, reliable
and objective screening tool to aid in diagnosing autism much earlier than is
presently possible," she says. "Developing a tool for the early detection of
autism would have profound effects on people with autism, their parents, family
members, and future generations of those at risk of developing autism."
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| Source: http://www.mcmaster.ca/ | ||
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