Signs of autism 'can be detected in young babies'

27th January 2012 - It may be possible to spot signs of autism at a much earlier age than previously thought, making earlier therapy a possibility.

New research in the journal Current Biology found that babies in their first year of life who will go on to develop autism showed different brain responses when someone looked at or away from them than children who did not develop the condition.

Although the research is still at a very early stage, autism experts are encouraged by the findings so far, as early treatment is generally recognised to be more effective. At present, a diagnosis is not made until after a child is at least two - and often much later - as symptoms of autism emerge over the first few years of life.

Spectrum disorder

Autism is one of the autistic spectrum disorders, a group of conditions with similar features. Autism symptoms vary in severity and impact from one person to another. It is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them.

Around half a million people in the UK are affected by autism, and more boys are likely to be diagnosed with it than girls.

Latest research

In the latest research, an international team, led by Birkbeck College, University of London, say their findings suggest that direct brain measures might help to predict the future development of autism symptoms in infants as young as six months.

"Our findings demonstrate for the first time that direct measures of brain functioning during the first year of life associate with a later diagnosis of autism - well before the emergence of behavioural symptoms," said researcher Mark Johnson of Birkbeck College in a statement.

The researchers looked at a group of 104 infants, 54 of whom were at risk of autism because they had an older sibling with the condition, and 50 who had no family history of autism. The babies were assessed at six to 10 months old and again when they reached three years.

Brain activity differences

Using sensors placed on the children's scalps, brain activity was recorded while they viewed faces that switched from looking at them to looking away from them.

Earlier studies have shown that the human brain shows characteristic patterns of activity in response to eye contact with another person. That response is a critical foundation for face-to-face social interactions, and it is well known that older children diagnosed with autism show unusual patterns of eye contact and of brain responses to social interactions that involve eye contact.

The Birkbeck team found that children who went on to develop autism showed a smaller difference in brainwave activity according to whether they were looking at the face looking away from them or looking at them, than those who did not develop the condition.

The new studies reveal that the brains of infants who will go on to develop autism already process social information in a different way. "At this age, no behavioural markers of autism are yet evident, and so measurements of brain function may be a more sensitive indicator of risk," said Mark Johnson.