Can autism be diagnosed and treated earlier?

By Martin Merzer on 11/03/2010 @ 09:36 AM

Typically, autism cannot be fully diagnosed until a child is at least two years old, but researchers are reporting progress in looking for earlier signs of a disorder that is affecting a growing number of children.

The New York Times reports that scientists are working with babies as young as 6 months old, with a goal of determining whether they can benefit from earlier treatment.

Daily therapy under a program called the Early Start Denver Model -- based on games and pretend play -- is showing signs of significantly improving I.Q., language and social skills in toddlers with autism. And researchers believe the program can prove effective when applied to very young infants.

“What you ultimately might be doing is preventing a certain proportion of autism from ever emerging,” David Mandell, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told the newspaper.

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