Baby Babble Used as Early Detection for Autism

So, you can imagine the benefits that being able to distinguish early babble of an autistic child vs. a non-effected child would be. Currently, autism is usually diagnosed after a long subjective observation session by a medical specialist watching for and keeping count of the “characteristics of autism” presented.

Imagine if screening could begin before the signs and symptoms of autism are even present! That is exactly what a new research study is focusing on. Researchers are studying those nonsense syllables babies make in an effort to find an early screening tool. Science has proven that autistic children typically show early problems in speech, but that fact is not reliable because of the variety in how toddlers distort their babbling….in comes a computer program. 

The study is published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” I think that readers should be aware that a couple of the authors were paid consultants for the company that developed the recorder and computer program. However, the researchers disclosed this information, and claim that they stopped taking the fees by the time the research was written.

The study describes a computer program that can “distinguish between the speech of normal children and those with autism.” Allegedly, the syllables in baby babble contain coded signals that a toddler is autistic. According to researchers, the program correctly identified more than 85 percent of autistic and non-autistic children. Over 200 children, ages 10 months to 4-years-old, had a miniature voice recorder attached to them. Over six to eight days, the children were recorded for 12 hours per day. The computer program filtered out sounds like coughing, sneezing, crying, etc.. that might resemble a syllable.

It should be no surprise that all the kids that were learning to talk contorted their syllables. However, the autistic children did so more often and longer than non-autistic children did.

This program is the first autism tool that is completely objective.  Not only could it be a much needed tool for early intervention, but such a tool could be invaluable in impoverished countries where autism specialists are not available.

See the published research here.