Irish autism event to reveal research on early diagnosis

THE LATEST research on early diagnosis of autism will be unveiled at a two-day international conference at NUI Galway this week.

More than 600 delegates will take part in the conference entitled Spectrum Disorder: from clinical practice to education provision. It is sponsored by Autism Speaks, the largest autism-based charity in the world.

Autism Speaks was founded by former NBC chairman Bob Wright, who is also a major contributor to the American Ireland Fund.

It is the biggest conference ever held in Ireland in relation to autism and will also be addressed on Friday by Minister for Health Dr James Reilly, whose son is on the autism spectrum and achieved a honour’s degree in genetics from Trinity College Dublin.

The number of children being diagnosed with autism has doubled in the past decade in the United States.

Research carried out in the US shows the numbers have risen from four to five per 10,000, or the equivalent of between 0.04 and 0.05 per cent of all children, to 0.9 per cent.

In boys the incidence has risen to one in 70, or 1.4 per cent of all boys. The number of boys diagnosed with autism is four times that of girls. There are no equivalent figures yet in Ireland, but an estimated 600 children are born here every year with the condition.

The reasons for such a rise remain unknown, although better diagnosis is one of the factors. The MMR vaccine has been ruled out as a potential cause.

Among the speakers is Prof Cathy Lord, director at the Institute for Brain Development in New York. She will discuss the latest revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V, used by clinicians to diagnose autism.

The latest research allows for the diagnosis of autism at age two, but early warning signs can be detected as early as 18 months.

Parents of autistic children have been invited to attend and there will be a workshop on the role they can play as therapists in early intervention for children on the autism spectrum.

The conference takes place on Thursday and Friday at the Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research in NUI Galway.