Early Diagnosis for Autism

A breakthrough in diagnosis of autistic children has been announced by scientists at the Weizmann Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California-San Diego.

Scans taken by fMRI show that autistic children have weaker synchronization between areas tied to language and communication compared to non-autistic children.  Although the toddlers can’t sit still for brain scans, fMRI can monitor neural activity while they sleep.  This new biological diagnostic method succeeded in identifying autism in 70% of affected children ages 1 to 3.  Currently, resting is only possible after ages 3 to 4, and is based strictly on behavioral symptoms.