PUBLICATION NAME: Psychology Today
DATE OF PUBLICATION: August 18, 2010
SUMMARY: At the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, doctors conducted a study with newborn babies. At first this study had nothing to do with detecting Autism, but soon doctors began to realize that there was a connection between a certain symptom that the babies had and Autism. Every baby that had this symptom was later diagnosed with autism later on in life. This possible discovery could prove to be very helpful to children with Autism because if it is detected earlier in a child's life, treatment can be given at an earlier age. This would greatly benefit children with Autism as Autism is usually detected around 3-5 years of age.
However, one of the limiting factors of this study is the fact that only very ill babies were included. The unit that was in charge of this study was the intensive care unit, so the only reason that the symptoms connected with Autism were detected was because of how closely each baby was being watched by doctors. Also, healthy babies were not included in this study.
This discovery could prove incredibly useful to future children with autism. If autism could potentially be diagnosed during a child's infancy, then treatment could be given earlier, which would help a child much more in their life.
LINKS TO STUDY: none listed
SUBMITTED BY: Kimmy Guzzetta
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