MONDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) -- Behavioral changes can be detected in some children with autism spectrum disorder by as early as 14 months of age, according to a prospective study in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Rebecca Landa, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, assessed social, communication and play behavior in infants with varying risks for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), based on having a sibling with ASD. The infants with ASD were followed prospectively from 14 to 36 months of age and were classified as early diagnosis or late diagnosis.
The investigators found that the early diagnosis group displayed different social, communication and play behavior by 14 months of age than all other groups. The differences included less frequent shared positive affect, initiation of behavior regulatory bids, initiation joint attention bids, and a smaller inventory of gestures and consonants. Late-diagnosis children showed similar behavioral differences at 24 months. The behavioral changes were distinct from those found in non-ASD groups.
"The developmental trends identified in children with ASD in this report highlight the need for early intervention and for these programs to robustly target social affective, social cognitive and communication development in toddlers with ASD, in addition to the current emphasis on visual-spatial, vocabulary, receptive identification and gross motor imitation skills," the authors write.
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