This Device Spots Autism in Kids by Looking at Their Eyes

[usonian]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-device-spots-autism-in-kids-by-looking-at-their-eyes
The test is fast, accurate, and provides diagnosis for toddlers as young as 16 months old.

The method, dubbed the Marcus Test, is actually a device that tracks children’s eye movements in response to social interactions.

Not a commercial device yet, but promising.

Autism is typically diagnosed at around five years of age in the U.S.. However, the earlier it's recognized, the sooner parents and caregivers can support children with the disorder. That’s because autism creates delays for social and information processing—which poses a large challenge when these children begin entering school.

It can be difficult to diagnose though. After all, there’s no blood test you can administer to identify it, and doctors need to rely on observing patient behaviors and listening to the parents. However, some new research offers up a new and accurate way of predicting autism that could accurately spot it in toddlers younger than two years old.

Researchers at the Marcus Autism Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta developed a method of measuring children’s looking behavior to diagnose autism in kids aged 16 to 30 months. This method, which is described in a pair of studies published in JAMA Network Open and the Journal of the American Medical Association, allows clinicians to spot the disorder earlier.

“The results show that the way in which young children look at social information can serve as an effective and objective biomarker for early signs of autism,” lead author Warren Jones, director of research at Marcus Autism Center, said in a statement.

There are free pdf downloads at the linked articles.

[elleng]

1. Interesting,

and kind of 'scary' as seems difficult to address the condition.

[MutantAndProud]

2. If I had been diagnosed earlier that *might* have helped with school years

Mine was minor though so I tended to fit in more with the gifted but not intellectually disabled types. All of the kids I knew growing up knew special ed meant you might get worse treatment through… so there was disincentive. Weird to think in the early 2000s people were still being made fun of for wearing glasses.