HJNO Jan/Feb 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  JAN / FEB 2020 17 concerns much earlier in their child’s life. As soon as a parent notices that a child is not meeting important developmental mile- stones, they should immediately speak with their pediatrician. We can evaluate as early as 15 months of age. It’s also never too late to obtain an evaluation for your child, and we often evaluate children into their teen years. Females with autism are often diag- nosed later in life due to their ability tomask their symptoms, especially the social skill impairments associated withAutism Spec- trum Disorder. If you notice that a child is not making eye contact, not saying one word by one year of age, not smiling at you when you smile at them, not using non-verbal gestures such as waving hello or goodbye paired with eye contact, and engaging in repetitive behaviors such as hand-flapping or lining up objects, that’s a red flag. Oftentimes parents report that they are told to wait and see if the child grows out of it. We strongly recommend against this. Parents can also contact the Boh Center directly if they are concerned about their child’s development, and our team will reach out for more information to determine next steps. Editor Have there been any recent break- throughs in the treatment of ASD? Seymour There is a large body of research focused on demonstrating the effectiveness of early intervention services such as speech, OT, andABA for children with autism. Over the last several years, an increasing amount of research has been focused on examin- ing the genetics and epigenetics of autism. Additionally, a variety of techniques focusing on early detection in infants usingmethods such as EEG, blood samples, and innova- tive technology using digital phenotyping has been published. I’m excited to see the impact these advances in science have on the autism community. I would encour- age anyone interested in exploring current research to look at the annual publication from the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee who publishes a summary of research annu- ally (http://www.iacc.hhs.gov) . Editor How does the Boh Center support the families of ASD children? Seymour The Boh Center was truly designed with the needs of the entire family in mind. the characteristics associated with autism, which is why there is significant variety in the presentation. Editor How soon can a provider tell if a child is on the autism spectrum? What should the next steps be? Seymour While the average age of diagno- sis is four years of age, many parents report Ochsner Hospital for Children Michael R. Boh Center for Child Development