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With the expert help of child-health nurses that identify crucial developmental delays, the age in which children are first assessed for autism has been significantly reduced.  Thanks to a study that has been conducted in Melbourne, Australia, children are now being diagnosed before their second birthday.  The breakthrough, has shown promise of saving large amounts of money (for treatment) and family heartache.

Cheryl Dissanayake, is the leader of the study and heads the Olga Tennison Autism Research Center at La Trobe University.  She stated that through routine infant check-ups given by maternal and child- health nurses, their program was a relatively cheap and effective way of assessing autistic behavior. The children were checked at eight, 12, 18 and 24 months, by  the nurses at 184 centers.  They looked for symptoms including lack of eye contact or response to their names, and failure to point, wave or clap.

“These kinds of behaviours … are evident from very early in development,” Dr Dissanayake said. “They are focusing on children before they develop language and traditionally it’s the failure to develop language that led children into the referral process.”

There were 105 children referred for further testing by La Trobe University experts over the two-year study.  Out of those 105 children, 80 per cent had autism spectrum disorder and the remainder had language or developmental delays. Only one extremely shy toddler was incorrectly referred to the program.

Up until now, autism is not usually diagnosed until children are at least three. This earlier detection, allows parents to enter special intervention programs, one whole year earlier, before the disorder becomes more severe and secondary symptoms, such as aggressive behavior develop. By the time a child is three, these types of behaviors are often times already in place.

Dr. Dissanayake states, “We are over the moon – it’s beyond our wildest dreams,” about the success rate. But the program’s funding, through a Telstra community development grant, runs out next month. “What we would like to do in the first instance is have the Victorian Government extend this across the state, and then I would like to see it spread much more across the nation.”

“Social stories” and picture sequence therapy using photographs of children engaged in daily activities, such as eating, shopping, playing, using the toilet,  and washing your hands among others, have been proven to be effective tools and learning aids. This form of therapy, helps to pre-program children with what is “supposed to happen” in their day.  There should be no reason not to enact earlier diagnosis ( such as in this study) and intervention for autistic children here in the USA.