Expert: Trey McGowan - 7/15/2009

Question
Hi,
Is this test accurate? Is 4 months too young to do this test? My 4 month old baby did not keep her head vertical to the floor.
Thank you.

Answer
Hi there, Bonnie!

The 'tilt test' is probably one of the silliest things I have heard of in order to test for autism. The way the child holds their head is not going to be a 'tried and true' way of checking for autism. There are far too many reasons that a child couldn't hold their head this way. In fact, I can't help but wonder how this is supposed to be a definitive test for autism at all; for all the people who state that the 'tilt test' is a way to test, I have yet to find a single example of *why* it should work.

The thing with the 'tilt test' is that parents want a simple way to tell whether their child has autism or Asperger's. The simplicity of tilting them on their side and having their head lay parallel or not is fast, easy, and can't be misread, right? However, the problem with this is that it is not a full indicator. How many of these tests have been 'false positive' or 'false negative'? There are no studies that show this definitively... or really, at all. Therefore, to me, this is as poor a way of testing for autism as looking for moss is a way of testing for north. Sometimes it might show something. Other times, you may just end up walking in circles.

Finally, yes. By the writeups of the tilt test, 4 months is definitely too young to be performing this test. All sources say that to perform this test, the child should be 6-8 months. At 4, their neck and motor skills are not developed fully.

Hopefully that's helped answer your question! Further questions, comments, feedback, follow-ups, are always welcome!

Trey