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LEFT: OLGA LISTOPAD/SHUTTERSTOCK. RIGHT: R.W. EMERSON ET AL., SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE (2017)Spotting Autism
Sooner
❯
DIFFICULTY COMMUNICATING,
repetitive behaviors, sensory overload
— all suggest autism spectrum disorder
(ASD). These hallmarks generally appear by
the time kids are 2 years old, and doctors can’t
start treating the neurodevelopmental disorder
until these symptoms show up. But now, a
June paper in Science Translational Medicine
describes a computer model that predicted
which 6-month-old infants would display
symptoms at the 2-year mark.
U.S. researchers scanned the brains of 59
high-risk infants and waited 18 months to
see which babies were diagnosed with ASD.
The team then compared neural connectivity
between the two groups and developed a
model that correctly identified — using only
the infant scans — nine of the 11 children who
ended up with symptoms.
If you can start therapy before these
symptoms show up, you have a chance of
improving many of the issues that lead to
autism, says neuroscientist Robert Emerson
of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and a co-author of the paper. — MARK BARNAEach of the images above shows connectivity levels during different
behavioral tests in brains of infants who would eventually be
diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Blue lines signify
more connectivity than non-ASD infants while red lines signify
less connectivity. These behavioral tests and the corresponding
connectivity levels were likely contributing factors to how a
computer algorithm was able to go back through these infants’
brain scans and accurately predict nine out of 11 babies who
would go on to be diagnosed with ASD by age 2.Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL)
Cognitive abilityRepetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R)
Repetitive behaviorsCommunication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS)
Social communication