By: Neomi Heroux - Healthnews.com
One child in 150 in the United States is diagnosed with autism, the majority affected being boys. Autistic children usually are slow in communicating, have difficulty connecting with others, and are prone to repetitive activities. Autistic children can be helped with education and medication, but professionals agree that for intervention to be successful it must start early. Doctors usually diagnose a child with autism based on what their parents observe and by observing the child themselves. The diagnosis usually comes after the child is two years of age.
A recent study involving MEG (magnetoencephalography) as a diagnostic tool has researchers believing that they may have found a way to test children in a relatively simple way. The MEG measures magnetic fields generated by electrical currents in the brain. The research used a helmet that looks like a hair dryer to study the brain waves of 64 children, 30 of which had been diagnosed with autism. The children wore headphones and listened to a series of beeps, vowels, and sentences. Comparison of the results revealed that the autistic children responded one fiftieth of a second slower than children without autism. “We tend to speak at four syllables per second, if an autistic brain is slow in processing a change in a syllable…it could easily get to the point of being overloaded,” according to Timothy Roberts.
Roberts is the study's lead author and vice chairman of research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where the study was conducted. The children in the study were between 6 and 15 years of age. The study results were released Monday at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.
The study revealed unique brain waves in autistic children and with the slower response to sounds the researchers believe that autistic children have problems understanding syllables as they are spoken and this prevents them from communicating effectively. The researchers are looking for the findings to be confirmed and the possibility that they may be able to detect autism in children as young as one. This would allow an early start on behavioral therapy necessary to help these children learn to communicate. Roberts said that the findings fit the theory that autism is a “disorder of connectivity of the brain.”
MEG technology has been used to map brain tumors and evaluate epilepsy. One of the drawbacks of the technology at present is the shortage of MEG machines. According to Roberts only about 150 of the MEG units exist at this time and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has the only one dedicated to pediatric care. Brain scans using MRIs and CT scans are not specific enough to give the detailed imagery necessary to detect the microscopic difference in the brain tissue to diagnose autism.
Autism disorders range across a broad range of abilities, and collectively are known as ASDs (Autistic Spectrum Disorders). Roberts said, “Earlier diagnosis of ASDs may allow clinicians to intervene earlier with possible treatments.” He foresees MEG being employed to examine people with attention deficit disorders, and other mental problems. He believes it may also provide more clues to the causes of autism and may help determine what is hereditary and what is environmental in the cause.
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