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One up on Autism

Learn the Signs and Act Early

By Teri Brown

Dr. Rice says the CDC designed the Know the Signs. Act Early. campaign because many developmental delays are not recognized early, delaying when children get the help they need. "By increasing awareness of autism and developmental disabilities and their signs and symptoms, we can increase early developmental screening, diagnosis and intervention," she says. "This means more children can get the help they need early and start school ready to learn!"

Dr. Rebecca Landa is the director for the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md. She agrees that early diagnosis is critical. "Early detection is the key to early intervention," says Dr. Landa. "Parents often begin to voice concerns before their child is 2 years old, but the average age of diagnosis for an autism spectrum disorder is 3 or 4. Some studies (one from University of Pennsylvania, the other out of Great Britain) even cite age 6 as the average."

Dr. Landa says by defining early predictors, infants and toddlers showing signs of possible autism may access early interventions, possibly altering the course of their development to prevent the onset of autism or, at the very least, strengthen typical developmental processes to optimize outcomes and help these children achieve their full potential.

"If we detect autism earlier, we can treat it earlier," says Dr. Landa. "Before the age of 3, children are experiencing critical, sensitive periods of brain development and experience-based neuroplasticity, which can make them especially receptive to early interventions."

According to Dr. Landa, studies have found that enhanced experiences, such as proper social play and engagement, can cause neural compensation and enrichment of neural pathways. "Early research from the '70s and '80s showed children under age 5 gained approximately 20 IQ points or more from intensive interventions," says Dr. Landa. "More recently, children as young as age 3 have shown similar gains. Although there has never been a study empirically controlled for the age of entry into intervention, it seems reasonable that as we increase the incidence of early detection we will see similar results in children under the age of 3."

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
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• Autism: Understanding the Disorder
• Talk about it!