LOS ANGELES — Children with autism spectrum disorders usually aren’t diagnosed until they are at least 2 years old, but a new study finds that signs of the condition are apparent as early as two months after birth.
Researchers focused on babies’ ability to make eye contact with caregivers because lack of eye contact is one of the hallmarks of autism. Among typical children, interest in the eyes increased steadily with age. But for children with autism, interest in the eyes waned starting between 2 and 6 months of age.
By the time they reached their second birthdays, levels of eye fixation among children with autism were only half as high as levels seen in typically developing children, according to a report Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Although researchers expected to see a difference between the two groups of kids, they were surprised that the infants who were later diagnosed with autism started out developing just like their peers.
That suggests that “some social adaptive behaviors may initially be intact” in babies’ brains, which would “offer a remarkable opportunity for treatment,” the researchers wrote. The study was funded by NIMH.
