Childhood autism is a psychological developmental disorder that begins in infancy and early childhood. Its main clinical manifestations are social interaction disorders, language and communication disorders, narrow interests, and stereotypical repetitive behaviors. A large proportion of children who are identified and treated early can improve their symptoms. However, autism is a complex system and there are many subtle clues that may be overlooked. The children described by Asperger, or those with atypical autism, may not be identified until years later, even after they are in elementary or middle school.
Issues to look for in the early identification of autism.
1. is that there are individual differences in the severity of deficits in children with autism.
2. is that the child’s behavior patterns may be far more prominent at some ages than at another.
3. is that personality, educational situation and social environment may influence their behavior
4. is often combined with some other disorder, such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, or sensory deficits. In fact it is entirely possible for autism to coexist with these disorders, and previously children were diagnosed with them, but their autism was overlooked.
Between the ages of 1 year and 18 months, parents can examine their child’s problems in the following ways.
1. normal children show an early interest in others rather than objects.
2. difficulties with feeding (breastfeeding, infant suckling)
3. excessive crying/screaming. Frequent crying and fussing, constantly seeking your attention.
4. Reasons for crying and screaming. Usually when children are very young, we are able to detect the reason for their crying, such as being hungry, thirsty, or not getting something. But with autistic children at a very young age, it is difficult for parents to figure out exactly why they are crying
5. sleep characteristics. Some children with autism spectrum disorders have sleep disturbances at a very young age and have difficulty falling asleep
6. normal good behavior. Some children behave so passively and quietly that you don’t seem to feel his presence. This can sometimes be a good thing for parents, but this is when you must be vigilant
7. Seeking social attention. Children who feel neglected will be anxious and will seek the attention of those around them, and we need to be vigilant if our children simply do not care about the attention of those around them.
8.Response to hugging. If the child refuses or lies softly on your shoulder when you hug him, instead of echoing your hug, we need to pay attention.
9.No eye contact. This is actually a problem that parents tend to ignore, to give an example, once a parent said: the child and I do not have eye contact, even I can read a book when feeding him, because he simply does not look at me, so I simply read a book well
10. Reactive smiling. As a normal child, the child will smile in return when the parent smiles at him.
11. readiness to be hugged. Generally when a child knows you are going to hug him, he will open his arms or be very excited, when such a reaction is lacking, we need to be alert.
12.Interaction when doing baby games. When the child is one or two years old, parents will have a lot of game interactions with them, such as teaching and singing children’s songs, etc. Generally children will respond, but autistic children will show indifference
13. waving goodbye. The average child will learn to wave goodbye without being taught to do so.
14. Babbling. Most normal children are actually interacting with the people around them when they are babbling, and there will be less language when no one is present.
15. response to language. Although a normal child does not speak, at six or seven months of age, he is sensitive to having his name called and will pay attention to where the voice is coming from and who is calling him, but many autistic children do not respond to being called by name even at the age of two or three. This does not mean that the child has a hearing problem. Some parents say that although they call him a dozen times and he does not listen, he immediately comes running from another room when the sound of the commercial comes together.
16. Interest in the surroundings. A normally developing child will be interested in the children in the environment very early, although they may not be able to play with other children of the same age, but if we push him to the street, we will find that he is the first to see children of the same age, the normal development of the child will appear around one year old;.
17. Interest sharing. A normally developing child when he sees something he is interested in will point his finger at that thing and look back at you hoping that you are also looking at this thing he is pointing at, which is actually an interaction with the parent. For children with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s, such behavior will appear later, but should be present by the time they are about 18 months old. The mother of a child with autism may notice that her child is unable to share with her things that interest him in the world around him and that he seems oblivious to them
18. special interests. A child with autism may develop some special interests at a very early age, for example, when the mother holds him with her left arm during the first feeding, he will always stick to her left arm, and if the mother gets tired and changes her arm, he will start to cry; when the child is six months old and can sit, he will sit on a specific square of cushion every time he sits, and if you want to change one, he will be very resistant.
19. Attachment to parents. A normal attachment to the parent is important to the child, but autistic children cannot establish this relationship. There are also two extremes: one is no attachment at all, the parents are the same whether they are there or not, anyone can take him away; the other is excessive attachment, once the mother leaves nothing can be done, these two extreme forms should be brought to our attention
20. dislike of routine care. We usually have some procedures to take care of our children, laying a scarf, pacifier and so on for her, most of them will gladly accept them, while an autistic child will resist these behaviors of ours towards him
21. Over-sensitive to the environment. If our child is overly sensitive to the sound, light, or electricity in the environment, we should be able to detect it early because he or she will behave in an extreme manner. Some children hear the buzzing of the refrigerator, covering their ears and screaming, so that his family dare not buy a refrigerator.
22. Strange body movements. Peculiar behaviors of autistic children at the age of one or two or three, such as constant head shaking, spinning, jumping all over the body, playing with hands in front of the eyes, etc.
These phenomena listed above may also occur at some stage in a normally developing infant. A single symptom does not mean autism, but if our child has several such manifestations, we need to be alert and must take our child to a regular specialist hospital and ask an experienced doctor to help diagnose. It is important to emphasize that the presence or absence of social instincts is an important indicator of autism.