The Importance of Early Diagnosis and Intervention
A number of studies have documented that the enrollment of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in early intervention programs is associated with improvements in IQ, language skills and educational placement.
Studies of early intensive behavioral intervention have demonstrated that for many children, early intensive intervention begun while a child is of preschool age and continued for 2 to 3 years results in substantial improvements in ASD.
The initiation of early interventional programs are believed to be beneficial since the brains of infants and toddlers have a higher degree of plasticity, or the ability to create new neural networks, compared to older children. By using the ability of a young child's brain to reorganize neural pathways, before their brain has developed past the point of plasticity, early intervention at this age is thought to improve outcomes in these children.
Unfortunately, since it can often take up to 4 to 5 years to receive a definitive autism diagnosis, the opportunity to initiate and receive the benefits of early intensive intervention is not possible in many children.
Identifying newer biologic and observational screening methods which can assist in the earlier identification of children at risk of autism are being pursued in order to allow for an increased number of children to enroll in these early intervention programs.
Suggested Reading:
Dawson G, Rogers S, Munson J, et al. Randomized, controlled trial of an intervention for toddlers with autism: the Early Start Denver Model. Pediatrics 2010; 125:17-23. (link)
Zwaigenbaum L. Advances in the early detection of autism. Curr Opin Neurol. 2010; 23:97-102. (link)
Dawson G, Early behavioral intervention, brain plasticity, and the prevention of autism spectrum disorder. Development and Psychopathology 2008; 20:775–803. (link)
Corsello CM, Early intervention in autism. Infants & Young Children 2005; 18:74–85. (link)
Pierce K, Glatt SJ, Liptak GS, McIntyre LL.The power and promise of identifying autism early: insights from the search for clinical and biological markers. Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2009; 21:132-47.(link)
