Early autism test may be possible

LONDON, May 21 (UPI) -- Eye tracker technology that measures eye direction of babies that may detect autism in children under age 1 is on horizon, a Canadian researcher said.

Mel Rutherford of McMaster University in Hamilton has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies look at faces, eyes and bouncing balls on a computer screen.

"What's important about this study is that now we can distinguish between a group of siblings with autism from a group with no autism -- at 9 months and 12 months," Rutherford said in a statement.

"I can do this in 10 minutes and it is objective, meaning that the only measure is eye direction; it's not influenced by a clinician's report or by intuition. Nobody's been able to distinguish between these groups at so early an age."

Currently, the earliest diagnostic test for autism is reliable at around the age of 2 and most children in Ontario are diagnosed for autism around age 3 or 4 -- but the earlier the diagnosis the better the overall prognosis, Rutherford said.

Rutherford presented her findings at the seventh annual international meeting for Autism Research in London.