Autism prodrome 2 of 89
Abstract
Autism is one of the most heritable neurodevelopmental conditions and has an
early onset, with symptoms being required to be present in the first 3 years of life in
order to meet criteria for the ‘core’ disorder in the classification systems. As such, the
focus on identifying a prodrome over the past 20 years has been on pre-clinical signs
or indicators that will be present very early in life, certainly in infancy. A number of
novel lines of investigation have been used to this end, including retrospective coding
of home videos, prospective population screening and ‘high risk’ sibling studies; as
well as the investigation of pre- and peri-natal, brain developmental and other
biological factors. Whilst no single prodromal sign is expected to be present in all
cases, a picture is emerging of indicative prodromal signs in infancy and initial studies
are being undertaken to attempt to ameliorate the early presentation and even
‘prevent’ emergence of the full syndrome.