Autism Signs Appear in Brains of 6-Month-Old Infants...

:idea:The findings suggest that there is a potential to disrupt autism during a child's first year before the disorder becomes entrenched

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A child at play.Image: Flickr/madmetal

The early signs of autism are visible in the brains of 6-month-old infants, a new study finds, suggesting that future treatments could be given at this time, to lessen the impact of the disorder on children.

Researchers looked at how the brain develops in early life, and found that tracts of white matter that connect different regions of the brain didn't form as quickly in children who later developed autism, compared with kids who didn't develop the disorder.

"The way the wiring was changing was dampened" in the children with autism, said study researcher Jason Wolff, who studies developmental disabilities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "It was a more blunted change over time, in how the brain was being wired,"

Read more:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=autism-signs-appear-in-br

Broken mirrors theory:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=broken-mirrors-a-theory-of-autism