How do We Establish a Biological Marker for a Behaviorally Defined Disorder? Autism as a Test Case

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 prim to implementation. We outline three validity tests and potential methods for addressing them. Autism Res 2011,4:239-241. (C) 2011 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.