Autism in Infants and Young Children

In this section, we aim to cover the social disorders in infants and young children. The lecture covers the patterns of onset of autism in young children and the diagnosis, the syndrome expression and atypical face processing in toddlers with ASD.

Featured reading from the Autism in Infants and Young Children lecture comes from:

Chawarska, K., Klin, A., Paul, R., & Macari, S., Volkmar, F.R. (2009). A Prospective Study of Toddlers with ASD: Short-Term Diagnostic and Cognitive Outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 50:10, 1253-1245.

This study extended findings of the 2007 study on stability and variability in syndrome expressions providing a roadmap for others seeking to implement early diagnostic procedures. It confirmed the high stability of the ASD diagnosis but also documented significant movement within the ‘spectrum’ in terms of diagnostic assignment at entry and at follow up. An analysis of developmental skills profiles suggested particular relevance of the assessment of verbal and nonverbal communication skills to diagnostic differentiation between subtypes within the ASD in the second year of life.

Read the full text article online at Wiley InterScience from the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.