ST. LOUIS (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
It is a cold, hard fact that children with a sibling who is autistic have a 10% to 15% higher chance of developing the disorder themselves. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine are hoping brain scans done using an MRI can offer clues about the first signs of autism long before a child develops the symptoms, allowing parents to get therapy for that child much earlier.An MRI has long been thought to be the best way to look for clues about early brain development and autism. But the roadblock has always been getting an infant to hold perfectly still for almost an hour. Until now.
Instead of using sedatives, which would be far too risky in babies so young, researchers are trying a more natural approach. Parents are given tapes of the loud noises an MRI makes to play to their babies for several weeks before the scan. Then, when it's time to do the MRI, it is done late at night. The infants are fitted with molded ear plugs, fed, and rocked to sleep next to the machine. When the baby finally falls into a deep sleep, they can begin the scan.
Over the next five years, Washington University will scan 110 at-risk babies, and compare them to images of 60 healthy babies, scanning each at six, 12, and 24 months.
