By Dr. Brian McDonough

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Doctors may be able to identify autism risk at much earlier stages than previously thought.

There’s very interesting information from the American Journal of Psychiatry which suggests that changes in brain development as early as six months of age can help predict if children are going to develop autism as they get older.

This is very important as far as potential treatments are concerned.

Now, this is not the first time we’ve seen results like this. Research conducted by the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at the University of London and published in January showed that in the first year of life, babies that go on to develop autism already show different brain responses when someone looks at them or they look away.