Study Allows Early Autism Detection by Age 2
Posted by Sarah on June 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/838145
We have some children in our extended family whom I believe have undiagnosed mild autism. They exhibit the classic signs and behaviors such as inability to make eye contact, extreme focus on particular toys to the point of being unaware of other people in the room, inability to form relationships and/or bonds with others, mood swings and more. They are unlike any other children I’ve known or been around. It almost seems like the joy of being a child has been taken away from them. I feel terrible for them.
I found this article on CNN about some new breakthroughs gained on the fight with Autism in this country. As the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the United States, Autism is newly diagnosed in 67 children EVERY DAY! The average age for diagnosis 3.
According to some new research done by lead study author Dr. Joseph Piven at the University of North Carolina, “children with autism have normal-sized brains at birth but at some point, in the latter part of the first year of life, it [the amygdala] begins to grow in kids with autism. And this study gives us insight inside the underlying brain mechanism so we can design more rational interventions.”
In people without Autism, a normal-sized amygdala helps a person process faces and emotions, behavior commonly known as joint attention.
“When you see a face, you scan it, identify if it’s friend or foe and make a decision about whether to move forward or avoid it,” said Dr. Barry Kosofsky, chief of neurology at Cornell Medical Center, who was not affiliated with the study.
“Many studies have observed the brain grows too big in kids with autism, but this study finds that by age 2, the amygdala is already bigger and stops growing,” said Kosofsky. “So it tells us the critical difference has already developed. It now poses the question: Are children born with autism or does it develop in the first two years of life?”
“By tracking the behaviors and brain volume growth from birth in high-risk babies, we can pinpoint when the brain first begins to grow larger than normal and provide therapy or medications to limit the growth or symptoms a lot earlier than we are doing now,” said Piven.
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