Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/v1aLm03-Ujg Neuroscientists at the University of California-San Diego’s Autism Center of Excellence now report that autism may be reliably diagnosed in babies as young as 14 months thereby permitting effective, early intervention.  The researchers studied more than 1200 toddlers who were first evaluated between their first and third birthdays and were then followed with at least one additional thorough assessment later in childhood. The ability to reliably diagnose autism or autism spectrum diagnosis occurs by 14 months of age.  Diagnostic reliability is only 50% at 12 months, rises to 79% by 14 months, and is 83% by 16 months.  Only 2% of those first diagnosed with autism during infancy later had that diagnosis dropped. The mean age at diagnosis for autism is currently between 3 and 4 years.  Research studies suggest that autism in its many shades develops in utero during the first or second trimesters, and this new information confirms that a reliable, earlier diagnosis is definit