There's a new, quick test that might help doctors and parents spot Autism earlier than ever.
The important part behind this is that when it comes to Autism, the earlier treatment is started the more successful it is. And this new, simple test can help discover it much earlier than what we can currently do.
Right now, it's usually discovered around the time a child turns three. But researchers have found clues in early infancy that can be used to help spot it even earlier. And they have turned that information into a new test that can find signs of autism in infants as young as 12 months old. And one of the beauties of this test is that it only involved about five minutes worth of paperwork while waiting in the doctor's office.
Researchers involved in this study used a 24-question checklist asking parents about things ranging from, "When your child plays with toys, does he/she look at you to see if you are watching?" to, "When you are not paying attention to your child, does he/she try to get your attention?"
By using this checklist, doctors involved in the research were able to diagnose around 75% of babies that went on to develop Autism. Although this survey tool still needs some fine tuning and isn't ready for widespread use yet, once more testing has been done to verify its accuracy it should become widely available.
The hope is this simple tool will be used by doctors and parents to get treatments started earlier on children at a higher risk of developing Autism.
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