title: How do we establish a biological marker for a behaviorally defined disorder? Autism as a test case.
abstract: We discuss the recent push to develop support vector machines and other cluster analyses as a means for biological signatures as early screens for autism. These methods not only hold great promise but also require careful consideration prior to implementation. We outline three validity tests and potential methods for addressing them.
authors.forename: Benjamin E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Yerys
authors.forename: Bruce F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Pennington
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers