Autistic kids might show subtle signs of the disease at 6 months age

Although subtle signs of autism may have been detected in 6-month-olds, it is yet too early to say if it could help in diagnosing the disease early.

As of now, doctors are able to diagnose the condition only when the infants are 2 year old.

“Earlier diagnosis could make a difference for kids because generally, the feeling in the field is that the earlier the intervention, the better the child's outcome," said Schultz, who was not involved in the study but is familiar with the findings of the new research.

Details of the study
The study conducted by Researchers at Kennedy Krieger, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Delaware looked at 25 babies with siblings suffering from autism which put them at a higher risk of suffering from the disease.

Also 25 other babies with no past family history of autism too were studied by the researchers.

Further, a novel learning task where infants were seated in a custom chair with an attached joystick within easy reach, a musical toy located to the right and their caregiver on the left was developed by the researchers.

The babies were then allowed to play with their caregivers constantly sitting besides them.

The pace at which the infant learned that the joystick activated the toy and the infant's level of social engagement with their caregiver was evaluated by the study researchers.

Results of the research
The high risk group spent less time looking to their caregivers and more time fixated on the non-social stimuli toy when the caregiver was not engaging them as compared to the babies with no past history of autism, the study reveals.

This clearly pointed towards a disruption in the development of joint attention in the babies, a major deficit found commonly in autistic children.

"This study shows that there is a particular vulnerability in high-risk siblings at six months of age. They are not as socially interactive and engaged on their own as their peers, but still respond typically when engaged by their caregivers, making for a subtle difference that could be easily overlooked by both parents and some professionals," said Dr. Rebecca Landa.

However, no signs of impaired associative learning were found in the high-risk siblings.

"Babies in both groups of the study learned the multi-stimuli task to the same degree," said Landa.

A follow up for the study will soon be published from the 'Center for Autism and Related Disorders' at Kennedy Krieger Institute.