From Diagnosis to Prediction: How Brain Markers Could Personalize Autism Care

Most families don’t ask “What diagnosis fits?” They ask, “Where is my child headed, and what will help?” At the NJACE & RUCARES Annual Conference, developmental cognitive neuroscientist Sara Jane Webb, PhD, argued that autism research should answer exactly that. Her message was clear: stop comparing autistic and non-autistic groups and start predicting individual paths and responses to support. As she put it, “heterogeneity is the rule,” and “no one marker should do, or can do everything for us.”

Why “what works” is hard to see in autism trials

Dr. Webb highlighted why many clinical trials struggle to show meaningful gains:

• Placebo and context effects are large. About a third of children in drug trials improve on placebo. Even a warm, supportive clinic visit can spark change. 
• Questionnaires miss subtle, short-term shifts. Many were designed for diagnosis, not to track two- to twelve-week progress. 
• One-time snapshots mislead. Data from tens of thousands of autistic individuals show multiple long-term trajectories. A single time point can’t predict who will grow, plateau, or need different supports.
  

A fast, low-demand window into the social brain

Her lab focuses on a practical, child-friendly tool: EEG. In a few minutes, EEG can measure how quickly the brain responds to faces compared with other images. Across large, multi-site studies, children—autistic and non-autistic—show a stronger, faster brain response to faces than to objects. On average, autistic children show the same pattern but a bit slower. In Dr. Webb’s words, “It’s not atypical… it’s just delayed.”

Why that matters: speed of face-response in early childhood tends to link with better social skills later. In follow-ups years down the line, children whose brains processed faces faster were more likely to show stronger social growth. That makes a simple EEG signal a promising prognostic marker: a clue to future development, not a label.

From group labels to personal paths

Dr. Webb’s point was not to “diagnose by EEG.” It was to improve decisions:

• Prognostic: What does the next few years likely look like? 
• Predictive: “Will this therapy work for my child?” 
• Stratification: Who should be grouped together in a trial so we can see real treatment effects?
  

Her team’s work and allied efforts show that enrolling children by biology plus behavior can sharpen trials. If we can identify children who are unlikely to improve on their current path, we can test whether an intervention truly moves the needle. That reduces noise from placebo and better matches supports to needs. The goal is simple and parent-centered: the right help, for the right child, at the right time.

What families should take away

• Autism is diverse. A single tool won’t fit all. 
• EEG offers a quick, noninvasive look at how the social brain is developing. 
• Faster face-response tends to align with stronger social gains over time, but it is not a diagnosis or destiny. 
• Biomarkers can help clinicians and researchers personalize supports and make trials fairer and more informative.
  

Dr. Webb was candid about the field’s challenge—“We are stagnant at this, particularly in neuroimaging”—and about the path forward: larger, multi-site studies, open methods, and markers that help families plan with confidence.

Sources

• Sara Jane Webb, PhD, keynote remarks, NJACE & RUCARES Annual Conference, September 16, 2025, Douglass Student Center, Rutgers University. 
• Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials (ABC-CT) findings referenced by the speaker. 
• Related EU-AIMS analyses referenced by the speaker.