Baby 411 Blog

New Autism Screening recommendations

The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that ALL children be specifically and systematically screened for autism at their 18 month and 2 year old well checks. A questionnaire should be given to parents at both visits and reviewed by the doctor. While there is no one perfect screening test, the one being recommended by the AAP is called the "M CHAT". It is available in the public domain and we will post it on our website for you to download shortly.

The goal is to identify children at risk at an earlier age so that therapy can begin as soon as possible. Kids who have early intensive therapy clearly do better.

Infant TV and language skills

A study published in the August issue of Journal of Pediatrics reports that children under 16 months of age who watch at least one hour a day of baby-geared DVD's have poorer language skills than those who don't.

As we've pointed out in both Baby 411 and Toddler 411, the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages ANY screen time (TV, DVD's, computers) for young children under age two. The reason: it is not beneficial and may be detrimental.

While this study doesn't even try to find the reason for this statistical significance, it does point out some valid concerns:
1. Are parents using TV as a babysitter and not engaging with their child?
2. Are parents being led to believe that their baby will be smarter by watching so-called "educational" or "developmentally appropriate" DVD's?
3. Or does the programming itself have a negative effect on development?

75% of the top-selling infant videos make claims that their products are educational however, there are no studies that prove these claims--and now there is one that negates it.

Our take-home message for this latest study: let the buyer beware.

Freakeconomics and Autism?

A recent study from Cornell University economics department looked at a possible association between television watching in young children and autism. The researchers compared autism rates, weather reports, and rates of subscriptions to cable TV. The study did not look at individual TV usage. It assumed there is more TV watching going on inside when it is raining outside. And, families who pay for cable TV are probably watching more TV than families who don't. The study found higher rates of autism in communities with more precipitation and more cable TV.

While we are impressed with the statistical methods in the study, we're a bit skeptical that television actually CAUSES autism (or that this study proves that). We will have to see what subsequent studies show.

Take home message: Although Teletubbies and Barney may make parents a little crazy, we can't say it causes autism in children. But remember, the American Academy of Pediatrics currently does not recommend any TV watching for kids under age two.