A new study published Tuesday in the journal Child Development, which sought to ascertain how best to detect autism spectrum disorder as early as possible, finds that infants who were diagnosed with autism at six months of age are developmentally similar to those who were not diagnosed on the autism spectrum.
This longitudinal study, which is the largest of its kind to date, followed 235 children over a period of three years, some of whom had a sibling with autism, testing key skills in the domains of language, socialization and fine motor six times between the ages of six months and three years of age.
The children were separated into groups consisting of autism identified by 14 months, autism identified after 14 months and those without autism. The children in all groups displayed similar developmental performance levels at six months old, while the groups with autism exhibited atypical trajectories afterwards. Impairment in each of the tested domains was greater in the early-diagnosed group than the later-diagnosed group but was similar at 36 months.
This points to the notion that development in children, whether diagnosed with early-onset autism, later-onset autism or without autism, is similar to a certain point, but then diverges.
While this study suggests that it is indeed difficult to definitively diagnose autism at the early age of six months old, the researchers nonetheless point to precursors, such as head lag, that may be an indicator of some developmental delay. Therefore, it is never too early to be conscious of such indicators, keeping in mind that early intervention is most effective when implemented sooner rather than later, while not rushing to a diagnosis too early.
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