Autism characteristics for detection and social learning found in studyof young infants

Carol Forsloff- Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is reported as the nation's fastest

growing development disorder, with early detection important for
intervention, so new research on how infant's eyes move as a marker is
important.

The study presently being published by the Journal of Child Psychology

and Psychiatry found high-risk infants are less apt to gaze at other
people even at a very young age, such as six months.

During the study, which compared both high and low risk children, it was
found that those infants with high risk for autism spent less time
gazing at caregivers and more on objects, in a fashion quite different
than low-risk infants.

“My colleagues and I
wanted to create a task that would involve learning something novel and
would give babies an opportunity to pay attention to either an object
or their caregiver,” said Dr. Rebecca Landa, corresponding study author
and director of Kennedy Krieger’s Center for Autism and Related
Disorders.

Medical
researchers established an important fact about early onset.  “This
study shows that there is a particular vulnerability in high-risk
siblings at six months of age. They are not as socially interactive and
engaged on their own as their peers, but still respond typically when
engaged by their caregivers, making for a subtle difference that could
be easily overlooked by both parents and some professionals.”

Both high-risk
and low-risk infants learned cause and effect at about the same rate,
but were more engaged in the toys that were used.  This indicates to
researchers that tangible rewards and approaches,provide the way these
children learn best.

“Babies in both
groups of the study learned the multi-stimuli task to the same degree,”
said Dr. Landa. “While the high-risk siblings are at a higher risk for
developing autism later in life, they still have the capacity to learn
cause and effect as well as their low-risk peers at this young age.”

Researchers
point out examples of how this type of learning, cause and effect, may
be used to aid development.  Landa recommends using simple songs paired
with gestures easy to understand as a way to teach language and social
skills rather than using electronic toys.  This will help build the
interactive skills needed for future learning.  It is recommended that
these be early ways of teaching infants in this cause and effect way.

According to
researchers 20 percent of the high-risk infants in this study will
receive a diagnosis of autism.   The study shows how early intervention
with social skills is important because of its vulnerability for future
impairment.