SACRAMENTO, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A new study showed when signs of autism are spotted and treated early, symptoms can be significantly reduced and developmental delays can be erased.
The study, undertaken by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute, observed the developmental progress of seven infants, between the ages of 6 months and 15 months old, who showed early signs of autism spectrum disorder. As part of the study, the infants received a treatment program known as Infant Start over a six-month period engagement. For six of the seven infants, all signs of developmental delay had been erased by age three.
Most children are not even diagnosed with autism until age three.
Infant Start is an intervention program implemented by the infant's parents. The program trains and empower parents to train their infants' to focus attention on facial cues and voices. Infant Start is designed to help infants hone their interest in and understanding of social interactions.
"Most of the children in the study, six out of seven, caught up in all of their learning skills and their language by the time they were 2 to 3," said lead author Sally J. Rogers. "Most children with ASD are barely even getting diagnosed by then."
The work of Rogers and study co-author Sally Ozonoff, both professors of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UC Davis, was published this week in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Rogers says the research does not to purport to have discovered a cure for autism, but only attempts to demonstrate the benefits of early detection and intervention. Besides, Rogers says a "cure" is not the aim of her work.
"I am not trying to change the strengths that people with ASD bring to this world," Rogers said. "People with ASD contribute greatly to our culture," she said. "The diversity of human nature is what makes us a powerful and strong species. We are trying to reduce the disability associated with ASD."
Rogers that the majority of autistic children don't show signs until much later than the infants involved in this study.
"I have a concern that parents whose children were diagnosed and received treatment at age 2, or 3 or 4 are going to feel somehow like they missed the boat, that they should have been getting intervention earlier or (been) aware of symptoms earlier," she told NBC. "And I really want to emphasize that most children with autism do not show symptoms as early as 6 to 7 months."
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Early intervention treatment mitigates autism symptoms in infants