Autism Severity Detected with Brain Activity Test

UCLA researchers have discovered that children with autism have a tell-tale difference on brain tests compared with other children. Specifically, the researchers found that the lower a child's peak alpha frequency -- a number reflecting the frequency of certain brain waves -- the lower their non-verbal IQ was. This is the first study to highlight peak alpha frequency as a promising biomarker to not only differentiate children with autism from typically developing children, but also to detect the variability in cognitive function among children with autism.

The researchers performed EEGs on 97 children ages 2 to 11; 59 had diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and 38 did not have the disorder. The EEGs were taken while the children were awake and relaxed in dark, quiet rooms. Correlations among age, verbal IQ, non-verbal IQ and peak alpha frequency were then studied.
The study is published July 25 in the European Journal of Neuroscience, and available here.