The IAA One Minute Blog

Just one in four children with autism is diagnosed before age three, but a new eye tracking technology may allow for earlier diagnosis and intervention, according to three clinical studies of more than 1,500 kids.

New Method for Autism Diagnosis

In the United States autism affects about one child in 36, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new eye tracking technology provides automated measures of children’s looking behavior and can help spot signs of autism as early as 16 months of age, researchers said. It may also help predict kids’ strengths and vulnerabilities.

The eye tracking tool measures a child’s eye movements while they watch a 10-minute video. Hundreds of important social cues are presented during the video, and the technology captures around 120 measurements per second.

Researchers compared measurements from children with suspected autism to those of typically developing peers.

The tool was further tested in 475 children aged 16 to 30 months who were evaluated at six U.S. autism specialty clinics.

Both studies found that the device’s diagnostic abilities were comparable to those of the specialists.

The idea behind the technology is to identify children with autism by picking up on their seeming lack of interest in people. Children typically learn social skills by observing how people around them interact. The new technology identifies children who are not paying attention to the kid-to-kid interaction in the video.

The studies were published in “JAMA” and “JAMA Network Open.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening for autism at 18 months and 24 months.

Signs of Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain, according to the CDC. People with ASD have problems with social interaction and different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention.

Some children show signs of autism in early infancy, such as reduced eye contact, lack of response to their name or indifference to caregivers. Other children may develop normally for the first few months or years of life, but they suddenly become withdrawn or aggressive or lose language skills they’ve already acquired. Signs are usually seen by age two.

Each child with ASD is likely to have a unique pattern of behavior and level of severity from low functioning to high functioning.

What IAA has to Say

Insurance Administrator of America wants people to better understand this disorder. Just think of IAA as your third-party health information connection, here to keep you in the know about world of healthcare.