Progress and Challenges in Predicting Autism in Infants

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, is a neurodevelopmental illness usually identified in infants and toddlers between 18 and 24 months. Predicting autism and understanding its early course of development are 2 goals of the prospective longitudinal studies of infants aged 1 year and younger who are later diagnosed with autism. Brain imaging, electroencephalography, and near-infrared spectroscopy studies have shown that autistic children develop differently from typically developing children at the same age. Sleep issues, gastrointestinal abnormalities, and vision impairments have all been found to be more common among infants less than 1 year who were later diagnosed with autism in retrospective research. In addition, infants with autism have been found to display a wide range of behavioral traits, including those related to attention, vocalizations, gestures, affect, temperament, social interaction, sensory processing, and motor skills. Read More