A new technique that identifies early differences in vocal development between children with an autism spectrum disorder or language delay and those developing on a normal trajectory could give pediatricians and other caregivers a tool for earlier detection of autism, and as a result facilitate earlier intervention. To distinguish the vocal patterns of normal infant and child development from those of children with autism or a speech delay, a team of researchers led by D.K. Oller of the School of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Memphis recruited 232 children between the ages of 10 months and four years — including 77 who had been diagnosed with autism, 49 with identified language delay and 106 whose development was characterized as typical.Children were outfitted with small, portable recording devices fastened to their clothing and researchers collected more than 1,400 all-day recordings. After analyzing the recordings and excluding cries or other sounds, the researchers identified a total of 3.1 million individual utterances.
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