ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, when the age for diagnosing autism was lowered to 3 years, this was considered diagnosis. The signs—the red flags—in preverbal infants during their life, as identified at the Mifne Center, relate to an ongoing disorder in attachment development during the life. While reviewing previous videotapes of a hundred children who were diagnosed with the autism spectrum at the age of 2 or 3 years, there were some indications pointing to signs of attachment disorders, which gradually developed into the autism spectrum. Research has been carried out into the life with children treated at the Mifne Center, which incorporates a programme using therapy for young children with autism and their families. Prior to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the developmental brain basis of autism was virtually unknown; however, MRI has revealed a distinctive pattern of growth abnormalities in cerebral structures.
