Autism - Early Diagnosis

Professor Pat Levitt explains that the sooner autism is diagnosed, the more effective the intervention.

There is obviously a lot of interest in understanding whether discoveries in genetics can guide interventions. There are examples in medicine, for example cystic fibrosis. We've identified the gene that is responsible for cystic fibrosis, we've known about it for a lot of years. [But] it has been difficult to use that information to develop better interventions. What we think might happen in genetics related to brain disorders, is that it will give us a better way of diagnosing the disorder. And if you have better diagnosis and earlier diagnosis, you can develop interventions that are more effective. We’re really interested in pursuing this for example in autism. Where the earlier the diagnosis, the better the intervention has in terms of moving things on a typical path.