WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mason Newsom thinks he's about to take in some cartoons and chill, but he's really being evaluated for autism.
EarliPoint is a fairly new device that uses eye-tracking technology to help pinpoint if a child as young as 16 months is on the autism spectrum.
According to Autism Speaks, most kids in the U.S. aren't diagnosed until they're close to 5 years old.
Erin Brooker Lozott, the program director at the Els Center of Excellence, said the new device eliminates any chance for discrimination.
"What it does, it allows a non-bias objective evaluation, because it doesn't discriminate. It doesn't see race. I t doesn't see culture," Brooker Lozott said.
Approved by the FDA last summer, EarliPoint tracks a child's eye movements while they watch other kids socialize. Children with autism might appear more interested in hand gestures rather than the human who's making them, or objects like jewelry.
The Els Center is the first in South Florida to use the diagnostic device. It's also one of only a handful of clinical centers in the country to have it.
Mason's mom said getting her 23-month-old evaluated finally allowed her to stop second-guessing herself and begin to put the pieces in place for early intervention.
"If I went years without getting the diagnosis, I mean, who knows how starting school could've happened or anything like that? I hear all the time, I didn't know until my kid went to school, and it was really tough," Amber Walker said.
Because EarliPoint is a test that takes 15 minutes — unlike older diagnostics that can take an hour or more — it can weed out the long wait for families who are trying to get evaluated.
Experts said that, in turn, it allows kids to get even earlier intervention during their formative years.
