By detecting the early symptoms of Autism at the earliest age possible, children can be treated.At the moment Early symptoms of Autism are not usually diagnosed until the child is 24-36 months old. However at the Kennedy Krieger Institute Baltimore Maryland extensive research is being carried out to diagnose early symptoms of Autism at the earliest stage possible.It is thought that in some case signs of autism in infants can be detected as early as six months old.An
Autism checklist will help parents detect the early symptoms of autism. .

An Autistic child is an individual just as any child so whilst displaying signs of Autism they will not be exactly the same as another child with Autism.

Early symptoms of Autism in infants to watch out for are not smiling by the age of 6 months, not babbling or making gestures or pointing by the age of 12 months and not making two word phrases by the age of two. These are just three of the many various symptoms of autism to look out for, but as I said earlier it is usually not until a child reaches the age of two to three before they are diagnosed Autistic.

As a child with Autism develops other signs become more obvious.ie
1 Lack of eye to eye contact
2 Prefers to play alone rather than with other children
3 Shows no creativity or imagination at play
4 Does not interact well with other people
5 Appears hyperactive
6 Suffers extreme tantrums for no obvious reason
7 Does not want to share enjoyment or
achievement.
8 Displays little or no facial expression.

There are many more symptoms and variations to these signs of autism, obviously if you suspect your child is portraying any of these you should seek medical advice.

Other behavioural characteristics of autism are Inatentiveness
Impulsive beahaviour
Restlessness
Fogetfulness
Hyperactivity
Destructiveness
Severe Mood swings

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Probiotics and Autism - 2007
John Scott reports and Professor Glen Gibson comments of the research.

It is well known that autistic children often suffer from gastrointestinal discomfort, bloating and diarrhoea or constipation, and it has been discovered recently that the intestines of autistic children tend to contain a higher number of the Clostridium histolyticum group of bacteria than is found in healthy children.

Clostridia are well-known producers of toxins, including neurotoxins, which may contribute to gut disfunction, may also have a systemic effect and could potentially be a contributory factor in the development of autism.

Researchers at the Food Microbiology Sciences Unit at Reading University have developed a probiotic specifically to reduce the levels of clostridia and promote 'friendly' bacteria instead, and they recently mounted a trial to assess precisely what effects this would have on autistic children.

Forty children, aged 4 to 8 were selected and half were given Lactobacillus plantanum in a powder, once a day, whilst the rest received a sham 'probiotic'.

As this was a 'blind' study, none of the participants knew which product they were getting, but it appears that the reduction of autistic symptoms in the children who were taking the L. plantanum was so remarkable to their parents that, when the time came in the study for the groups to switch and for those who had been taking the real probiotic to begin taking the sham product, the parents refused to accept anything other than the genuine probiotic!

Inevitably, the trial collapsed due to the large number of drop-outs and no firm conclusions could be drawn in a 'scientific' sense, although a very clear 'result' may be obvious to many!

A new trial is to be mounted that should answer some of the remaining questions, such as whether the obvious improvement in both concentration and behaviour was due simply to the fact that the children felt better, and were therefore more able to concentrate and behave more normally, or whether this was due to some other change brought about by the probiotic.

Source: The Scotsman, 5 September 2006

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