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A new American study has found that babies diagnosed with autism later in life usually show atypical ways of playing with toys such as spinning, repetitively rotating and looking at the toys out of the corners of their eyes, as early as one year.
The results of the study will help the parents and pediatrics identify children at risk of autism much early in life and treat them accordingly.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) , autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests in delays of "social interaction, language as used in social communication, or symbolic or imaginative play" with "onset prior to age 3 years."
First author of the study, Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D., of the University of California Davis, California, United States, said, "The finding that the unusual use of toys is also present early in life means that this behaviour could easily be added to a parent checklist or quickly assessed during a visit to a pediatrician's office."
"The earlier you treat a child for autism, the more of an impact you can have on that child's future,” she added.
Sally Ozonoff and the team from the University of California Davis looked at the 66 twelve-month-old babies who had not received any diagnosis. 35 of them had a sibling with autism or autism spectrum disorder and the other 31 babies had a brother or sister developing normally.
Researchers gave infants 4 things to play with such as a metal lid, a round plastic ring, a rattle and a plastic baby bottle one at a time and scored the babies on their behavior.
Nine of the babies were eventually diagnosed with autism. Of them seven babies spent significantly more time spinning, rolling, rotating and looking sideways at objects including a baby bottle and a rattle or starting intently at them for prolonged periods than the other babies who played normally with toys such as shaking, throwing, banging or mouthing them.
"We found that these behaviors were relatively rare in the contrast group, but very high in the group who later developed autism," Ozonoff said.
Adding further she said, "Our results suggest that these particular behaviors might be useful to include in screening tests."
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The results of the study will help the parents and pediatrics identify children at risk of autism much early in life and treat them accordingly.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) , autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests in delays of "social interaction, language as used in social communication, or symbolic or imaginative play" with "onset prior to age 3 years."
First author of the study, Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D., of the University of California Davis, California, United States, said, "The finding that the unusual use of toys is also present early in life means that this behaviour could easily be added to a parent checklist or quickly assessed during a visit to a pediatrician's office."
"The earlier you treat a child for autism, the more of an impact you can have on that child's future,” she added.
Sally Ozonoff and the team from the University of California Davis looked at the 66 twelve-month-old babies who had not received any diagnosis. 35 of them had a sibling with autism or autism spectrum disorder and the other 31 babies had a brother or sister developing normally.
Researchers gave infants 4 things to play with such as a metal lid, a round plastic ring, a rattle and a plastic baby bottle one at a time and scored the babies on their behavior.
Nine of the babies were eventually diagnosed with autism. Of them seven babies spent significantly more time spinning, rolling, rotating and looking sideways at objects including a baby bottle and a rattle or starting intently at them for prolonged periods than the other babies who played normally with toys such as shaking, throwing, banging or mouthing them.
"We found that these behaviors were relatively rare in the contrast group, but very high in the group who later developed autism," Ozonoff said.
Adding further she said, "Our results suggest that these particular behaviors might be useful to include in screening tests."
Discuss
Bury
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