Israeli scientists identify autism within a year after birth

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Scientists may have found a way to diagnose autism within the first year of one's life based on proper identification of symptoms, according to new studies from Israel's Bar-Ilan University.

Both studies were carried out by Bar-Ilan's Mifne Center for Early Intervention in the Treatment of Autism and the Weisfeld School of Social Work Continuing Education Unit's Dr. Hanna A. Alonim and were published in the peer-reviewed academic periodical International Journal of Pediatrics & Neonatal Care. However, they both differed in their methodology.

The first study focused on using video recordings of 110 infants (84 boys and 26 girls) and was carried out over the course of a decade. These infants were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 2-3 and, with that in mind, videos of them from their first year of life filmed by their parents were examined and analyzed. The parents had no suspicion regarding possible autism diagnosis at the time of filming, so the videos were used as a control group.

The parents were further asked questions regarding when symptoms were first noticed.

A number of symptoms were detected in this study such as an aversion to touch, delayed motor development, excessive activity or passivity, lack of reactions, refusing to eat, an accelerated head circumference growth and, most of all, a lack of eye contact.

The study also examined the correlation of different symptoms, such as lack of eye contact and excessive activity.

Based on these findings, a total of 89% of the symptoms could be observed when the baby was just 4-6 months of age - however, it was difficult for parents to notice these signs.

In Israel, autism is often diagnosed around a year-and-a-half after birth, =far earlier than in the rest of the Western world, where the average age is two-and-a-half.

The Mifne Center has developed a tool to help screen infants for autism. This tool, called ESPASSI, was used in a pilot testing project at Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) in Tel Aviv.

The importance of early treatments for these symptoms was highlighted in the second study, which compared the effectiveness of treatments on 45 toddlers between 1-2 years of age and 39 toddlers between 2-3 years of age. The specific treatment in question was the Mifne Approach, a method pioneered by the center to treat toddlers of ASD symptoms. This particular therapeutic approach is based on family therapy and attachment theory, which necessitates the entire family be given support and learn necessary coping skills.

This method of treatment addressed not only the cognitive aspects of neurodevelopment but also physical, motor, sensory and emotional development.

Overall, reducing the time between early detection and therapy was found to have been far more successful in preventing neurodevelopment from severely deviating. It also is important for another aspect: the family. When a parent is in constant worry, this essentially triggers a vicious cycle of sorts, something that is very harmful for neurodevelopment. If the parents have the appropriate knowledge, support and coping mechanisms, however, they can properly help their child develop.

These findings also support research from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, which found that those who were diagnosed with ASD at a young age can have better social development.

This study, published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Autism in October, found that children diagnosed with ASD at two-and-a-half years of age or younger were three times as likely to improve in core social development.

"We believe this larger improvement is due to the larger brain plasticity and behavioral flexibility that is a fundamental characteristic of early childhood," said Prof. Ilan Dinstein, head of the Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research at BGU.