Diagnosing young children with autism

•Accurate identification of individuals with ASD a critical starting point for research on the disorder.•Recent major advances in ASD have occurred in early identification and differential diagnosis.•Neuroimaging and genomic research will potentially lead to better diagnosis of ASD.

The starting point for any research on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) involves the identification of people who evince the condition. From this point follows research on symptom presentation, genetics, epidemiology, animal models, treatment efficacy, and many other important topics. Major advances have been made in differential diagnosis, particularly with young children. This fact is particularly important since ASD is a life long condition. This review documents recent advances and the current state of research on this topic.