A recent study published by the UC Davis MIND Institute has found that infants who repetitively play with toys by spinning them or rattling them or who look at objects out of the corners of their eyes at one year of age are more likely than those who don't to be diagnosed with autism, says the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

What is troubling is not the finding itself, but the idea that these results might encourage parents to become hyper-vigilant about their infant's play behaviors, perhaps even to the point of unnecessary worry for the parents. Moreover, at one year of age, there do not exist the treatment interventions to begin caring for autistic children or those on the spectrum in the same way for those with later diagnoses. Adding a screening test of this kind at this point--without having established that there are effective treatment modalities for children diagnosed at this age--would unnecessarily worry parents and provide them with no viable treatment options.