Autism Research took a big step forward thanks to a study by a Kansas University professor Steve Warren. His research in screening for Autism related disorders could lead to a new technology to help with diagnosing the disease.
The study focused around the vocalizations of young children. According to the research children with Autism produce a different vocalization then normally developing children. The results of the study are scheduled to be published in the July edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Steve Warren, professor of applied behavioral science at Kansas University, said "that more testing is required to determine how useful the technology can be for screening and diagnosing Autism" but that its obviously an exciting development, because its a very different way of looking for developmental disability.
Some parents, who have children with Autism, have claimed their children vocalize differently, but previous studies on Autism and vocalization were inconclusive due to difficulty with recording and analyzing vocalizations. New technology has enables researchers to better record and analyze vocalizations which helped produce the findings.
The researchers did caution that not all children with Autism exhibit developmental speech patterns, so although this screening may be effective in identifying some children with Autism it cannot identify all cases.
