5 minute Autism detection test

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 29 2011

According to a study published Thursday, a brief screening in a pediatrician's office can detect autism-like symptoms in children as young as 12 months old, giving them an important head start on treatment. The screening test used in the study also flagged some babies who later turned out to be developing normally, raising a false alarm for families. But early diagnosis and treatment of autism and other developmental delays are thought to improve outcomes, and researchers said the benefits of early intervention outweighed the downsides.

Karen Pierce, lead author of the study and assistant director of the University of California, San Diego's Autism Center of Excellence, “This does show that a respectable percentage of babies who eventually get a diagnosis [of autism-spectrum disorders] show subtle signs at one year. The only chance we have right now in changing that path to having full-blown symptoms is early intervention, and there's no reason not to try.”

Children with autism have deficits in social interaction and communication and the condition is extremely difficult to detect in very young children, some experts say. Children often aren't diagnosed until age 2 or 3, when symptoms like lack of engagement and eye contact with parents and peers become more obvious.

But this new study from UC-San Diego found pediatricians were able to use a five-minute questionnaire to successfully identify potential problems in communication and language skills during a 12-month-old's wellness checkup. Questions included whether parents could tell if their infant was happy or upset, or responsive to certain cues.

The team screened 10,500 infants and 184 scored lower than expected and were referred for further evaluation and tracked for up to three years. Ultimately, 32 of them were diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder, while an additional 101 were determined to have a language or developmental delay or a related condition.

Lisa Gilotty, who leads the research program on autism-spectrum disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the study said, “This is the first and only study to demonstrate the feasibility of using a really broad screening measure like this in a medical setting.” Based on previous research, the study likely identified about half of children who later would turn out to have autism

The questions developed by Amy M. Wetherby and Barry M. Prizant include the following 7 categories –

1. Emotion and Eye Gaze

• Do you know when your child is happy and when your child is upset?
• When your child plays with toys, does he/she look at you to see if you are watching?
• Does your child smile or laugh while looking at you?
• When you look at and point to a toy across the room, does your child look at it?

1. Communication

• Does your child let you know that he/she needs help or wants an object out of reach?
• When you are not paying attention to your child, does he/she try to get your attention?
• Does your child do things to get you to laugh?
• Does your child try to get you to notice interesting objects -- just to get you to look at the objects, not to get you to do anything with them?

1. Gestures

• Does your child pick up objects and give them to you?
• Does your child show objects to you without giving you the object?
• Does your child wave to greet people?
• Does your child point to objects?
• Does your child nod his/her head to indicate yes?

1. Sounds

• Does your child use sounds or words to get attention or help?
• Does your child string sounds together, such as uh oh, mama, gaga, bye-bye, bada?
• About how many of the following consonant sounds does your child use? Ma, na, ba, da, ga, wa, la, ya, sa, sha?

1. Words

• About how many words does your child use meaningfully that you recognize (such as baba for bottle; gaggie for doggie)?
• Does your child put two words together (for example, more cookie, bye-bye Daddy)?

1. Understanding

• When you call your child's name, does he/she respond by looking or coming toward you?
• About how many different words or phrases does your child understand without gestures? For example, if you say, "Where's your tummy," "where's Daddy," "Give me the ball" or "Come here," without showing or pointing, will your child respond appropriately?

1. Object Use

• Does your child show interest in playing with a variety of objects?
• About how many of the following objects does your child use appropriately: cup, bottle, bowl, spoon, comb or brush, toothbrush, washcloth, boy, toy vehicle, toy telephone?
• About how many blocks (or rings) does your child stack?
• Does your child pretend to play with toys (for example, feed a stuffed animal, put a doll to sleep, put an animal figure in a vehicle?