New Research on Autism

Research at the Baby Lab Project at Uppsala University in Stockholm is studying electromagnetic brain activity in babies by attaching electrodes to their heads whilst they are playing with different objects.The aim of this research is to tell which part of the brain does what when the child interacts with the world around him. This will help the researchers to discover the differences between brains in those with autism and others. In order to do this they had to develop special light electrodes so that they were not too heavy for the baby.One of the reasons for the research is to be able to diagnose autistic children sooner and more easily. This will enable treatment to start earlier, currently it is practically impossible to diagnose before the age of 18 months and sometimes it can take much longer, even into adulthood.