New research claims autistic children can now be diagnosed as early as six months old

Across the globe, scientists and researchers are hard at work trying to solve the mystery that is autism. And now, new research published in science journal Nature reveals doctors are getting closer than ever to diagnosing autism in children at an earlier age, Motto reports. In the study, psychologist Heather Cody Hazlett from the Carolina Institute of Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina, and her colleagues, used brain scans to predict if babies as young as six months would develop autism as they grow.

15 high-risk infants who received a diagnosis of ASD at 24 mths had an increased cortical growth rate at 6–12 mths https://t.co/P4THtWv2DR pic.twitter.com/FXFQcVLwVF

— nature (@nature) February 16, 2017

Typically, autism is only diagnosed when a child is around two, when caretakers and health care professionals can start detecting differences in how their language skills mature and social skills emerge.

This US study focused on children with siblings who are autistic. Hazlett and her team took MRI scans of babies at six months, 12 months and 24 months; tracked changes in their brain development, then compared the scans with those of children diagnosed with autism at age two.

318 children from high-risk autism families were tested, as well as 117 children from low-risk families, and what the brain scans showed, was that the brains of the children who developed autism possessed nerve cells that grew faster than those who weren't diagnosed.

Interestingly, in eight out of 10 cases, the method was successfully able to diagnose the condition.