New Autism Research Reveals Brain Differences at 6 Months in Infants Who Develop Autism
Science Daily, February 17, 2012
Read the entire article at ScienceDaily
From the article: “A new study from the Infant Brain Imaging Network, which includes researchers at the Center for Autism Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), found significant differences in brain development starting at age 6 months in high-risk infants who later develop autism, compared to high-risk infants who did not develop autism…”
It’s a tremendously exciting finding,” said Sarah Paterson, PhD, director of the Infant Neuroimaging Lab at CHOP’s Center for Autism Research. “We found that the brains of the children who developed autism were markedly different even prior to the onset of behavioral symptoms of autism. Thus, our findings, while requiring replication, are a very important first step towards identifying a biomarker for autism risk. This would enable specialists to diagnose autism much earlier than what is currently possible through behavioral observations.
The authors note the study also suggests that autism does not appear suddenly in young children but instead develops over time during infancy and raise the suggestion that it may be possible to intervene earlier, even before a child is 6 months old, and possibly to prevent the development of some autism symptoms.
