Autism Signs

Autism Signs questions and answers

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Q: Anyone have a child who is very young and displaying autism signs?
I have an 18 month old who is exhibiting all the key signs of autism. He has been referred to a pediatrician who also thinks he has autism. I am really having difficulty finding ways to help him cope. I have a lot of people helping him, but we haven't been able to find some real key comfort things to help him. Does anyone else have any children who were diagnosed with autism young? How did you cope? How did you help your child?

A: My son was diagnosed 1 month after his 3rd birthday. At first we thought our son was just slow, we didn't know about autism. We seen a show on tv about the characteristics of autism when he was about 2 1/2 which led us to suspect he had it, so we learned as much as we could about it which also led us to having him assessed for it. We also learned that he was showing some signs long before we suspected him even being "slow" and when we did suspect him being slow they were actually signs of autism. So it could be very well that your son does have autism, the best is it to have him assessed. You know your son best, so if you feel in you gut that he does have autism, don't let anyone here on yahoo tell you he is too young to be diagnosed with it, the typical characteristics may or may not be noticebable between 18 months and 2 yrs of age but usually are obvious between 2 - 6yrs. I don't think a parent ever fully copes with their child having autism, you have good days and bad days, best is to take it one day at a time. You may want to look into a support group such as a local chapter of the autism society http://www.autism-society.org , they are ran by parents and professional so it can be great for support, advice, and learning about resources in your area, or even an online group can be great too. The autism society also has some great info about different treatments/therapies. Each person with autism is different so each has to be handled on an individual basis sometimes what may work with one child may not work with another even if they act completely the same so some treatments have to be done on a trial basis to see what works best with your child. If he his assessed as having autism you'll want him to be assessed for speech and occupational therapy. For example my son has receptive & expressive language disorder, delays in oral & fine motor skills; oral aversion (sensory to food textures), and sensory integration which can be sensory to a variety of things such as lights, textures of anything, sounds-noises, odors and so on. He receives both speech and occupational therapy to help him with these. You can also contact your school board about early intervention services or an organzation like easter seals to help him get services/therapies. You can also look into The Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc. (C.A.R.D.), they have offices located in Arizona, Virginia, Illinois, New York, Texas, Australia, New Zealand, and several in California including the headquarters. http://www.centerforautism.com , if you reside in FL they have Center for Autism and Related Disabilities - CARD in which there is 7 locations throughout the state & I can send a link to your local CARD if you do reside in FL or you can do a search for it. The 2 are not affiliated, but both can provide some great services to your son. You may also want to look into a behavior therapist, they can help you understand and your son as he gets older about his behaviors and how to deal with them in a positive and effective way, among helping him with other things. One of my son's key comforts things is a blanket, it works great whenever we go places especially some place new, he uses it to kind of hide behind as in to protect him from the surroundings/people. After he beens there a couple of times he's much more comfortable. He also likes things that vibrate, when he began occupational therapy she would have to give him a vibrating pillow in order to calm him down and be able to work with him during therapy. Granted these may not help your son, but in time you'll find something(s) that will help in comforting him. If he has autism or another condition, you have taken the first step in helping him by having him assessed, if he is assessed with autism or another condition then you can begin to take the steps in helping him.

Q: How early can you see the signs of autism in a child and what are those signs?
No, I'm not asking because I think my child has it, I'm just curious.

A: There are signs that can be seen as early as 3 months, but not every child that has those signs will eventually be diagnosed with autism, and not every child that doesn't will not be autistic. The simple fact is that there is no test for autism, and there is no one set of criteria for diagnosing it. Even if you go by the DSM definition of autism its still subjective and up to the person doing the diagnosis. http://www.autism-watch.org/general/dsm.shtml Diagnostic Criteria for Autistic Disorder A. A total of six (or more) items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1), and one each from (2) and (3) (1) qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following: (a) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction (b) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level (c) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest) (d) lack of social or emotional reciprocity (2) qualitative impairments in communication as manifested by at least one of the following: (a) delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime) (b) in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others (c) stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language (d) lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level (3) restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least two of the following: (a) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus (b) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals (c) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements) (d) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects B. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3) symbolic or imaginative play C. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett's Disorder or Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. http://www.mugsy.org/pmh.htm Diagnosis of autism is rare before the age of two years and is frequently much later6. It requires comprehensive, specialist assessment, which means primary health care workers being alert to the features of the condition and making the appropriate referral. Attwood9 notes that autism can be diagnosed in children as young as 18 months but in practice this may be hard to achieve, partly because of the nature of the disorder and partly because of lack of knowledge. Unfortunately at present a considerable number of professionals involved with young children do not recognise autism10, although it is hoped that this situation will improve and cases will be referred to specialists at younger ages for early intervention6. Nurses and nursery nurses who work with babies and young children are in a prime position to recognise possible early signs that warrant investigation. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155241,00.html They developed a 16-point observational checklist called the Autism Observational Scale designed to map the development of infants as young as 6 months. Specific markers include making infrequent eye contact, not smiling in response to smiles from others, and, in older children, exhibiting delayed language skills. Even as early as 6 months of age, the researchers found that certain behaviors tended to distinguish siblings later diagnosed with autism from siblings who developed normally. These behaviors included passivity and a decreased activity level at 6 months of age, followed by extreme irritability, a tendency to fixate on objects, reduced social interaction, and lack of facial expression. At 1 year, these same children also tended to have difficulty with language and communication, and they used fewer gestures. Zwaigenbaum noted that almost all of the children in the study who were diagnosed with autism by age 24 months had seven or more of these markers by the time they were a year old. The findings are reported in the latest issue of the International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience. Signs ‘Not Necessarily a Cause for Concern’ While the checklist may be useful for recognizing signs of autism in very high-risk children like the ones in the study, its relevance as an observational tool for other children is not yet known. “Many of these behaviors are pretty common in early development, so they are not necessarily a cause for concern,” Zwaigenbaum tells WebMD. “The next step is to take this experience working with high-risk infants out to the general community to see if these observations have meaning.” In the meantime, the findings may immediately lead to an earlier suspicion of autism and possibly earlier intervention in children at high risk. “The message is that we need to start working with these kids as early as possible instead of telling families that they should wait and see what happens,” Zwaigenbaum says. http://www.lestout.com/article/parenting-family/parenting-choices/what-are-the-early-signs-of-autism.html Possible Signs of Autism at 3 Months: * Not smiling at others. * Not making eye contact with parents. Possible Signs of Autism at 6 Months: * Not making eye contact with parents. * Not babbling or making cooing sounds. * Not imitating a smile when parents smile at child. * Not taking turns making sounds with parents. * Not participating in a game of peek-a-boo. Possible Signs of Autism at 12 Months: * Does not try to speak. * Does not point at items (when trying to communicate a want/need), wave at others, or grasp for objects. * Does not responsd when his/her name is called. * Repeats body motions (i.e. rocking back-and-forth or flaps hands in front of face/down side of body). * Becomes fixated on an object. * Becomes oversensitive to textures, smells, sounds. * Struggles when there is a change in routine. * Loses language that he/she once had. Possible Signs of Autism at 24 Months: * Does not verbally say two-word phrases independently. * Loses language or developmental skills (had it in the past, but now he/she doesn't have it). It is important to note that if your child demonstrates any of these early signs of autism, it doesn't necessarily mean that he/she is autistic. It does, however, mean that your child's physician and you need to monitor the child's exhibit of the behaviors. If they do not improve, an assessment may need to be done to determine whether or not your child is autistic as well as whether he/she needs to receive services for an early intervention. Some websites are showing clips of videos of children with and without autism to help parents and physicians have a visual sense of behaviors that are related to autism and those that are not. This information can be found on the MSNBC website.

Q: Does anyone have any information about signs of autism in infancy?
i have a six month old baby who seems completly normal. He laughs, rolls, stands by help, sit by support and have normal eye contact. But, i am so scared of autism in babies. i need to have more information. i know it will show itself in later on but i want to know how was some babies with autism during infancy. and also my baby moves his legs and hands alot while he gets excited. and sometimes when i call him he completely ignores. I need to knwo if this is normal or not. Thanks

A: Hello, Based on what you've described, it sounds like you have a happy healthy wonderful baby. I wouldn't worry about autism unless you begin to see things that concern you. And I haven't heard anything so far. In fact, I would say that a baby with autism (these are generalizations...) would sound almost opposite to what you have described: little response to stimuli almost no eye contact disinterest in other people disinterest in the world around him tantruming for seemingly no reason If you want to encourage your baby to develop properly, there are plenty of things you can do! Give them lots of sensory stimulation, bright colors in the form of toys they can hold, touching, rocking (you can do this in a chair, or put the baby in the car seat and rock it lightly and as the baby gets older, you could consider a baby swing), light bouncing (but NEVER shaking of course), easy listening/classical music, and toys that make noise, such as rattles, squeaky toys, etc. Basically, try to find lots of different toys, with different noises, textures, sounds, and colors ( I have some on my website--see below), and expose your baby to many different kinds of things. There are lots of toys on my website that are great for your developing baby. Take a look if you are interested. www.sensoryintegrate.com These are just some basic ideas. The more sensory stimulation you are able to give a young child, the better chance the nervous system has of making good connections, which will help the child all through life. And the LESS chance of autism or other developmental disorders becoming an impairment. However, if you are doing something the baby doesn't like, of course, stop. And if you notice something that really doesn't seem right, consult your doctor immediately. Good Luck & have fun! Jessica www.sensoryintegrate.com

Q: At what age does boys with autism start showing signs of puberty?
My sons teacher asked if I thought my son was having seizures. That has made me very concerned. How would I know if he's having mild seizures?

A: My son is severe and he went into full puberty at 11. Strange that he can not talk and was still not toilet trained but nobody had to teach him how to "relieve" himself. He learned that on his own and does it a few times a day. My son does not have seizures so puberty and seizures do not have to be related.

Q: Are there any early signs of autism in babies under or just around a year old?
I'm a worry wart and my stupid mother-in-law made it even worse. She pointed out that whenever my 10 month old son enters a room that he's not entirely familiar w/, he looks around too much and for too long. And that he is so busy looking around that it's nearly impossible to get his attention while holding him. This is true to him, but seems logical to me. But, I've noticed a couple other things that I thought we kind of different and it just made me wonder.

A: Possible early indications are: does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by one year of age does not speak one word by sixteen months does not combine two words by two years of age does not respond to his or her name loses language or social skills avoids eye contact doesn't seem to know how to play with toys excessively lines up toys or other objects is attached to one particular toy or object doesn't smile at times seems to be hearing impaired I wouldn't worry too much though, like other posts said i think your son is just been curious.

Q: What are the tell-tale signs of autism?
I'm just interested. I've been looking through an article on it and seeing similarities in my behaviour and stuff. Not extreme things, just difficulties and stuff. So, definitive tell-tale signs? I'm probably just slightly dyslexic. I have difficulty articulating verbally sometimes and I saw a connection. It's probably just paranoia.

A: Autism is much more common in boys than in girls. Approximately when the child is 2 - 3 years old, he does not relate to other playmates, he plays alone and with repetitive movements. Language skills are very delayed. In some cases, the child suffers also mental retardation

Q: Autism question: young toddler already showing signs?
I have a young toddler showing some signs of autism already. The pediatrician has brought it up briefly and will prob setup some sort of screening test for it soon. I believe if he has it its not at the highest level. I personally don't know a ton about Autism, are there different levels of Autism? Can it get worse or better with therapy? What causes Autism and is there any medication to help in the future? I always thought Autism was another name for a learning disability.

A: There are definitely different levels of autism. It can range from severe autism all the way to some simple learning disabilities. My son was diagnosed with PDD NOS at age 2, which is a mild form of autism. He basically has speech delays and some "quirks" in his personality as we call it. The sooner your child is diagnosed and starts therapy, the better they will do later on. I highly recommend asking your pediatrician for a referral to a developmental pediatrician or neurologist. There is testing they can do (even at young ages) to see if your child falls on the autism spectrum, and then will recommend therapies/treatments. Therapy definitely helps immensely. I have several friends who had mildly autistic children, and with intensive therapy, the no longer carry a diagnosis of autism. Its possible to overcome mild cases, or the diagnosis will change to something like ADD, etc. There is no known cause for autism, but is mainly thought to be either genetic. Depending on what your child's issues are, there are some medications out there that can help. Like I said, I highly recommend getting your child evaluated by a developmental pediatrician or neurologist ASAP. I wish you the best of luck!!

Q: Is it possible to spot Autism signs in a 4 month old baby boy?


A: No it is not possible. A four month old does not show enough of a personality to diagnose autism and what little personality the baby does show you have only been exposed to it for four months so you and the baby still do not know each other very well. Also babies develop in very different ways and at different speeds. I would say the earliest that autism can be diagnosed successfully is the age of 2

Q: For parents of kids who have autism - first signs?
I have read multiple lists of first signs online, as well as studies on some of these, such as the Teitelbaums' movement analysis, answering to name at one year, and toy manipulation at one year. I would, however, very much appreciate the experiences of parents and the signs they noticed first in their child, and at approximately what age. Thank you very much! (I am a worried mom)

A: I have two children on the autism spectrum, PDD-NOS. The first thing we noticed with my son was at age 2ish. Although he was learning a large vocabulary (more than most his age) he wasn't putting them together into sentences long after he should have been making short sentences. His words were also very parrotlike, without his own inflection, he simply "carbon-copied" words from adult inflection. Sometimes the inflection was inappropriate for the use because he learned it elsewhere. He also didn't interact much, though his autism was/is pretty mild he was kind of distant. My daughter is even milder, and the clue was social. She simply wasn't taking unspoken social/communicative cues at all. We probably wouldn't have recognized it if it wasn't for her brother's diagnosis. Now, after years of therapy, you really can't see it unless she's caught in an intense social situation or under other pressure.

Q: what is the best strategy to develop the communication skills of children with autism?PECS or Makaton signs?
my friend has two children with autism.she just wants to know which is the best strategy to develop their communication skills.

A: PECS stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. The picture symbols most commonly used are Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) and are made by Mayer Johnson's Boardmaker software. PECS uses picture representations of object, action, person, and attributes (descriptions). The picture representations can be in the form of PCS, photographs, Clip Art, magazine pictures, product labels, etc... Some children may do better using object representations instead of pictures but the exchange system remains the same. The PECS training is a 2-3 day training for SLPs, teachers, and parents so it's difficult to give you detailed information in YA. If you would like more ideas/tips how to implement PECS properly, please e-mail me. I will be happy to help. For PECS workshop and product information, go to http://www.pecs.com/index.php I have used Makaton in the past and am not a big fan of it. I find individuals with Autism learn best with visual supports in the form of pictures &/or written words. As a speech-langauge pathologist, I would not recommend using PECS alone. A multimodal approach is much more effective for functional communication. Communication boards, picture schedules, social stories, repetition, literacy-based instruction, sign language/gestures, etc... are all beneficial in increasing expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language skills.

Q: What is the earliest a baby will exhibit signs of retardation or autism?
He's only a week old, and his pediatrician says everything checks out fine. But he sometimes exhibits some of the same hand and head movements of children who are deemed mentally retarded or severely autistic. Now, it may be that he's just "doing what babies do," and those movements may look similar because those older children simply don't move past that "infant-like" stage of development, so I'm hoping I'm just being paranoid. But I'm wondering if anyone might know of some warning signs. Thank you.

A: A lot of the uncontrolled movements of a newborn resemble the self-stimulating that many people with autism do. It is completely normal, and nothing to worry about. If your child fails to meet milestones and is still exhibiting those same behaviors a year or two from now, that is when you need to discuss it w/ your doctor.

Q: how to recognize signs of autism?
My daughter is 14 months, she really don't say any words yet she used to make mamama and dadada sounds but it stopped. She'll occasionally say ba and then pause and again with another ba for baba. The dr said something about autism and now I am nervous...what are some other signs that I can look for?

A: Scroll down to about the middle of the page: http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/1-03/EP12-02.html Maybe you could take your daughter to a developmental pyschologist.. Where I live, there is a child development center. The people will be better at diagnosing this condition than a doctor since they deal with cases such as this often. This is also an interesting site:http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/actearly/ Click 1 year and read all about what your child should be capable of. At the bottom there are some warning signs. I hope I helped Best of luck

Q: How early are the signs of autism?
And are they linked to vaccines

A: For some autism they are born with and signs are immediate. A child may not like to be held and squirm to be put down, they don't smile or sustain eyecontact. For those that develop autism the signs can start showing before 12 months. I have a son that was dx at 9 months. He did not answer to his name, and repetitively played with the same toy, he was a picky eater, and avoided eyecontact. He is not vaccinated. He has a dx of PDD.NOS My oldest son developed autism later he also is PDD.NOS and was typical through 15 months. He was vaccinated through age 2. Is autism linked to vaccines? Autism is an autoimmune disorder, and autoimmune disorders in general are on the rise epidemically especially allergies. I believe that vaccines contribute. The overload of toxins on an immature dysfunctional immune system can manifest in all kinds of ways like autism, allergies, bipolar, ADD/HD ect. Genetics are an integral component. So my answer would be yes indirectly autism can be linked to vaccines in some cases. So can a virus, oxygen deprivation during birth resulting in TBI traumatic brain injury, there seems to be an Rh connection in mothers of autistic children, also many moms fail the triple screen when pregnant who go on to have autistic children. There are so many correlations, its very complex.

Q: my son seems to show many signs of autism, should i have him tested?
There are many tells of this disorder, odd speech, odd motions, keeping or distancing ones self all of which my son at a year old does. he has extreme detatchment issues with me in particluar. I try to give him on the floor play by yourself time and he still has to be stuck to me. I'm lucky if i can put him down long enough to do the dishes. what would you recommend me to do.

A: It is difficult to diagnose autism in one so young, but some of the symptoms you describe do seem uncannily accurate! Autism is best described as a failure of communication, socialisation and imagination. Many autistic children also have tremendous problems associated with sensory perception. A good site to look at these difficulties is http://www.snowdrop.cc/info2.cfm?info_id=62142 There is also a book which may help at http://www.lulu.com/content/1225081 The book is really good. It is written for parents and gives clear explanations. Hope this helps.

Q: what are signs of mild autism in adult men?
STRICT-NO: Is it possible to be completely normal in the presence of your best buddy and otherwise have All the symptoms you mention.

A: As a 36 year-old man diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome 5 years ago, I'll answer this. Yes, only diagnosed that recently, because the DSM (and thus most people that might have any chance of making such a determination) only listed it after I was an adult and completely out of college. That's an odd question and way to ask it, because you're either autistic, or you're not, and autism is a developmental difference in timing that things happen, where some things develop sooner or later than others, and others, perhaps not at all. The path of development of what someone appears to be like does not necessarily stop in childhood: there are many things that may keep on progressing until death, all depending on the person. Whatever the part of the spectrum, one of the things that's consistent is some level of difficulty making sense of others and their body language and non-verbal cues, and their body language will also likely be different enough to come off a little different, too. I've previously had a coworker think (and state that she thought this) I was crazy, I think largely because she couldn't make sense of my body language: she was somewhat surprised when I told her what's what. What's important to keep in mind is that a lot of people make an effort to blend in via their speech and body language and other natural behavior that's overridden: they try to make themselves act as "normal" as they can, because sticking out as odd tends to cause a lot of trouble, based on experience: people can be horribly cruel to someone that stands out as different. There are the "curebies" (those that believe autism can and should be cured) that once someone reaches a certain outward behavior, proclaim they're cured, which is pure bunk: you don't grow out of being autistic, and you're never cured from your brain being wired that way. One thing you might notice is if they're speaking more or less in a monotone, or the speech has odd inflections compared to what you'd expect. I wasn't really conscious of this until I was in college, and the teacher asked me to not speak in a monotone when reading to the rest of the class: as a result, I over-exaggerated and read out loud in a bit of a sing-song way :) If you see someone rock back and forth, especially while thinking, that (amongst other things, such as bouncing the foot/leg, or arm flapping, or other things that hit you as odd) may be a form of what's known as stimming, which (despite what a lot of the medical community may think) does have a functional purpose in the autistic neurology in that it helps act sort of like clock source to help regulate the processing of the computer otherwise known as the brain: if you restrict them from doing that, they might not be able to think nearly as well, as readily, and with me, the speed of the motion is often related to the thought process in question. Another thing that may (but doesn't necessarily) be a clue is unusual sensory sensitivities or insensitivities: they may seek out certain types of sensory experiences more than you'd expect, or try to avoid them, such as loud noises, loud noises of certain frequencies or types of noises, or certain types of textures (such as clothing) cause problems. However, not everyone that has such sensory issues is autistic. There are others, too, but that's a good start, and even then, chances are that unless you've had a lot of exposure, you wouldn't be able to tell by casual interactions where someone stood.