FLORIDA: American scientists have developed a free website that allows parents to spot signs of autism in their children more easily.

It has close to a hundred video clips of youngsters playing and performing tasks, and points to actions that might indicate a form of autism.

The developers said the aim is not for parents to self-diagnose, but to help them decide if they need to consult a specialist.

Four-year-old Nicholas Voss has autism. Doctors diagnosed him when he was 16 months old after spotting red-flags in his behaviour.

Videos of Nicholas showing signs of autism have been posted on the website, www.autismspeaks.org, along with videos of unaffected children in order to highlight the differences.

Professor Amy Wetherby from Florida State University helped to create the video library.

She said: "It shows a child who is typically developing on the left and a child with autism spectrum on the right to illustrate particular early red flags of autism spectrum."

Nicholas is one of about 80 children featured online and there are plans to add more.

Doctors said autism can be recognised by repetitive behaviours and problems with social interaction and communication. But the causes remain unclear.

Nicholas' mother, Stefanie, said her son displayed classic signs of autism that are shown on the website.

"He had something of an obsession with spinning objects where anything with a wheel on it, such as a car, he would just flip it over and continually spin the wheels round-and-round, and he would do it hours on end," she said.

US government scientists cautioned that a thorough assessment is needed before determining if a child is autistic.

They said screening tools cannot give guaranteed evidence of developmental problems.

US government statistics this year found that one in 150 eight-year-old children in America has some form of autism, and more children than ever are being diagnosed.

Autism is a worldwide problem, but accurate numbers are difficult to obtain.

The National Institutes of Health said early intervention has a dramatic impact on reducing symptoms. It estimated that only 50 percent of children are diagnosed before kindergarten.

The developers of the Autism Speaks video library believe their project will help address that problem as early diagnosis is key in treating autism.

They said if children are diagnosed early enough, it could help them live relatively normal lives.


- CNA/so