A simple test with questions that parents could complete when taking their child to a pediatrician could lead to early diagnose of autism, when the child is one year old, informs a new study done by researchers at the University of California.
137 pediatricians have been taken part into the screening program. The parents of the 10,000 tested children have completed a questionnaire with 24 sensitive questions such as: “When playing, the child looks at you to see if you follow him/her?” or “does your child smile when is looking into your eyes?”.
The children who failed the test’s first phase were referred for thorough examinations (including MRI and blood tests) in a special center, where they were tested every six months and closely monitored until the age of three.
Children can receive treatment at the age of 17 months
Out of the 10,000 tested children, 184 have failed the test questions. 75% of them were eventually diagnosed with various illnesses. 32 of them were diagnosed with autism, 56 with delayed verbalism, 9 with behavioral disorders, and 36 with other diseases.
After the screening program, all children who have been diagnosed with autism, behavioral disorders, and delayed verbalism were included in the national program of treatment at the age of 17 months. Typically, pediatricians can not diagnose such a disease earlier than the age of 5-6 years.
With treatment, the autistics can live independent
Autism is a mysterious mental illness that affects children’s ability to communicate and relate with others. Typically, children with autism do not have a normal development of verbal ability, and may seem deaf even if their audiometry tests results are normal.
Even if the disease can not be cured, the treatment can significantly improve the symptoms and control the disease, so the patients will be able to live independently.