A Montreal psychologist's breakthrough procedure to assess the mental abilities of autistic children at a young age and enhance their chances of treatment is about to be introduced in the US.

The testing lab, created by Philip Zelazo, the director of psychology at Montreal Children's Hospital, has been used in Montreal for more than a decade to assess children between 20 months and four years old.

Dr. Zelazo and his partner, businessman Erwin Neumark, figure they are now ready to begin marketing their research and technology elsewhere. They've created a company called Psymetrics Research Corp. and will install their first lab at the Bancroft Centre in Haddonfield, New Jersey, later this month.

Bancroft, which is located close to Philadelphia, is a private, non-profit organization that provides services to 800 children and adults with various disabilities in New Jersey, Maine and Delaware.

Mr. Neumark said several North American and European institutions have expressed interest in the lab, but the company is proceeding slowly. While the company expects the lab to be commercially lucrative, there are moral issues involved, he said, and there will be strict quality controls and training requirements for anyone who purchases the lab.

Dr. Zelazo's lab is a completely new approach. Traditionally, children are not tested for autism and other developmental delays until they are past three and then they are put through a series of tests that rely on a child's ability to speak, respond to requests and demonstrate motor skills, such as stacking blocks.

However, those are the skills an autistic child lacks, Mr. Neumark said. They are likely to underperform on the tests. And, in fact, about 75 per cent of autistic children have been traditionally classified as mentally retarded.

So Dr. Zelazo has designed a testing procedure that does not demand those skills, and can be used on younger children. Mr. Neumark said it is important to start treating children as early as possible. They are behind at a time when they should be developing a great deal. The longer parents and professionals wait, the greater the ground they have to cover.
In Dr. Zelazo's lab, the child sits on his parent's lap and faces a structure that resembles a puppet theatre. Operators stage a number of events and assess the child's reaction by watching his visual reaction and listening for any sounds he might utter. The child is also hooked up to a monitor that measures such physiological responses as changes in heart rate.
In one event, a small car rolls down a ramp and knocks over a small snowman. The child is shown this several times so that he can remember the pattern. Then the car rolls down and doesn't knock over the snowman.

In another event, the child hears an audio message, sometimes in normal language and sometimes garbled.
Dr. Zelazo found that 75 per cent of children who displayed serious delays on conventional tests were in fact capable of processing information on his test. And 60 per cent of that 75 per cent were able to substantially overcome their disabilities with proper treatment. He has also designed a treatment process.

There is still considerable debate surrounding the testing and treatment of autistic children. Mr. Neumark, who described himself as a businessman and a skeptic by nature, said he conducted research into the method, need and commercial viability of the lab, and he's convinced it will be a success.

George Niemann, president of Bancroft, said the lab meets his centre's needs. The center treats many young children who cannot speak, he said, "and they are written off in traditional tests."
But, like Dr. Zelazo, he believes many of those children can be helped through early intervention and new approaches to training.

Dr. Niemann said the lab is not well known in the US., and is bound to lead to controversy -- "much like any new procedure that is not well known and understood." Chief among the opponents will likely be supporters of the old testing procedures, he said.

However, Dr. Zelazo's method is well known in Montreal, said Manon Dagenais, director of the Société Québécoise de l'Autisme, which is made up of parents and professionals. And his efforts are well regarded, she said, because the society believes it is important to recognize and start treating autism as early as possible.

Mr. Neumark sold his previous business, which produced mobility devices for the disabled, and sank $100,000 into developing the commercial lab.
The original lab was labor-intensive, requiring four trained operators, he said. But with the help of a Montreal software developer, it has been automated and now requires a single operator.

Each lab sells for $145,000 U.S., and the data collected must be sent to Montreal for analysis. Each analysis costs $250. Mr. Neumark said the company wants to control the analysis to ensure quality and to build a database of information for further study.

He expects the lab will find a significant market in the U.S., where governments are required by law to provide a full education to every child regardless of their disabilities. The lab's potential to diagnose problems early and possibly allow a child to overcome problems and join the regular school system represents an enormous cost savings, he said.
In addition, Mr. Neumark said, "the savings in human anguish would be hard to put a price on."

However, getting the lab into commercial production will require an additional investment of about $500,000 Cdn. Mr. Neumark said the company is currently studying how it will raise those additional funds. It is considering either seeking additional private investors or listing on the stock exchange.