Autism is typically diagnosed at around five years of age in the U.S.. However, the earlier it's recognized, the sooner parents and caregivers can support children with the disorder. That’s because autism creates delays for social and information processing—which poses a large challenge when these children begin entering school.

It can be difficult to diagnose though. After all, there’s no blood test you can administer to identify it, and doctors need to rely on observing patient behaviors and listening to the parents. However, some new research offers up a new and accurate way of predicting autism that could accurately spot it in toddlers younger than two years old.

Researchers at the Marcus Autism Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta developed a method of measuring children’s looking behavior to diagnose autism in kids aged 16 to 30 months. This method, which is described in a pair of studies published in JAMA Network Open and the Journal of the American Medical Association, allows clinicians to spot the disorder earlier.

“The results show that the way in which young children look at social information can serve as an effective and objective biomarker for early signs of autism,” lead author Warren Jones, director of research at Marcus Autism Center, said in a statement.