Latest study reveals that a brainwave test in kids can help doctors with early as well as accurate diagnosis of autism in children.
Autism is a neural development disorder, which affects the information processing power of the brain that can result in impaired verbal and non-verbal communications, and repetitive and restrictive behavior; however, symptoms and impairments of each patient may differ.
Many people across the world suffer from autism and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that 1 in 68 children in the country are identified to have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Latest study conducted by the researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University reveals that early detection and severity of autism is possible by measuring the swiftness at which it responds to sounds and sights.
"A major goal of autism research is to develop measurements to diagnose the disorder as early as possible, and that can help to identify areas of weakness, and strength, so that treatments can be optimized," says Sophie Molholm, a senior researcher of the study. "Our work shows that measuring brain activity is a viable approach to achieving these goals."
Molholm explains that the brain of children suffering from autism takes slightly more time to process sensory information such as sights and sounds. The latest research measured the processing speed of the brain in 43 kids suffering from autism with the help of electroencephalograms (EEG), which is brainwave recording.
The participants were given an image to view and tone to listen individually and also at the same time. The children pressed a button when they saw or listened to something and EEG recorded the speed at which the brain processed the information.
The research team made a comparison of the children's audio-visual, video and audio processing speeds, which made the researchers establish the severity of autism symptoms. The assessment was based on the extent of the children's repetitive behavior, social and communication difficulties, and the level of restrictiveness of interests they had.
Molholm suggests that if the symptoms were more severe, the slower the participant responded to sounds. The researchers reveal that they also found that the severity of symptoms was linked to how slowly the kids processed audio-visual stimuli. However, the study found that there was no difference in how quickly the children processed the images.
The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities.
