Has anyone seen this study? Autism Study: Baby's Babble May Contain Vital Clues

[Guest guest]

I have to read this study -does anyone have it. Sure there could be signs of

speech issues in infancy, it can accuratly tell 85% of the time when there is

going to be a SPEECH problem perhaps -but to actually slap the label AUTISJM on

a baby based on BABBLE!!! We need money for OTHER communication impairments too

Autism Study: Baby's Babble May Contain Vital Clues

(July 19) -- To a parent's ears, there's nothing more enchanting than the babble

of a child learning to talk. Now research shows that those nonsense syllables

could contain coded signals that a toddler is autistic.

In a study released today, scientists report that they have designed a computer

program that can distinguish between the speech of normal children and those

with autism. Even though the work is only a first stab at analyzing audio

recordings for signs of autism, it can correctly identify more than 85 percent

of autistic and nonautistic children.

" We had no idea that this was possible, " Kim Oller of the University of Memphis,

head of the research team behind the study, told AOL News. " It's very surprising

that you can use a totally objective system and get this much information so

quickly. "

The finding could eventually help doctors diagnose autism early in a child's

life. Early diagnosis is crucial, because the earlier autistic children start

intensive therapy, the more they improve.

If the computer program proves itself, " it would be very helpful to have an

automated way to screen for autism, " said Geraldine Dawson, a top autism

researcher and the chief scientific officer for Autism Speaks, a science and

advocacy group.

Autism is an often-devastating disorder that is being diagnosed in a growing

number of children. One in 110 kids in the United States has autism or a related

disorder, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Children with full-blown autism have trouble communicating and relating to

others. Many autistic kids, even as babies, avoid making eye contact. They may

flap their hands and obsessively line up their toys rather than playing with

them.

Scientists have known for decades that autistic children show early problems in

their speech, but there's tremendous variety in how such toddlers distort their

babbling, Oller said. That has made it difficult to use speech problems to help

diagnose autism.

Oller and his colleagues tucked miniature voice recorders -- each roughly the

weight of a candy bar -- into the chest pockets of more than 200 children ages

10 months to 4 years. The team then recorded everything that came out of the

kids' mouths over six to eight days, for roughly 12 hours each day. The computer

software filtered out crying, sneezes and coughs and focused on the sounds that

resembled syllables.

All children mangle their syllables while learning to talk. But the scientists

discovered that autistic children tended to do so far longer than normal

children, making it easy for the software to pick out the autistic kids' voices.

The current gold standard for diagnosing autism is a long observation session by

a medical specialist who watches a child and tallies up activities

characteristic of autism.

The computer program " is the first kind of system that's totally objective, "

Oller said. " I don't know of any other system that doesn't involve judgments

being made by people. "

He doesn't think his program alone, even when perfected, should be used to

declare that a child is autistic. But audio analysis " could be used very

effectively " as a tool for screening children whose parents are worried about

their development, he said.

Dawson agrees, saying automated voice analysis could help " improve our ability

to identify infants who are at risk. " Such a tool could also be useful in

countries where autism specialists are in short supply, she said.

The study is being published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences. Several of the authors were paid consultants to a for-profit company

that developed the recorder and computer program. The company was turned into a

nonprofit foundation in 2009. Oller said the consulting fees had no influence on

his research and that he stopped accepting them when he decided to write this

paper.

http://www.aolnews.com/science/article/autism-study-babys-babble-may-contain-vit\

al-clues/19559884

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[Guest guest]

Thank you ms_elby whomever you are!!!!

" ly, I see an alarming incidence of apraxia getting mistaken for autism

because someone isn't paying attention to the non-verbal communication " (from)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20011129-247.html

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