Doctors like to pick up the first indicators of disease as early as possible so they can begin effective treatments that might help patients. But when it comes to conditions like autism, that’s not always easy. Autism’s behavioral symptoms don’t become obvious until babies are about 3 years old, which is when parents and physicians first notice differences in the ways toddlers interact with others and their environment. And therapy usually doesn’t start until after that. But researchers say it may be possible to detect subtle warnings of the developmental disorder as early as at 12 months–and all it takes is…
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