Red Flags That Your Infant Has Autism

Approximately 20 percent of children diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum were developing within normal limits and regressed. That leaves 80 percent of children diagnosed on the Spectrum who had no signs of regression. They have always showed signs of Autism, but it can just be quite difficult to catch as it's not until your child is over a year old that you are really expecting more certain skills from them. Working in the field of Early Intervention, I provide therapy to children ages birth to three who are delayed or disabled. The youngest child diagnosed with Autism I have personally worked with has been seventeen months of age, yet I have seen what we call "red flags," of Autism in children much younger than this who have later been diagnosed. There are certain "red flags," or signs of Autism that you can watch out for in your child even from a very early age. Hear are some of those signs:

Eye Contact
From infancy, babies make brief eye contact with their parents. By the age of three months, your baby should be gazing into your eyes when you cuddle or sing to them, or when they are feeding. Eye contact increases as a baby grows older. They are able to look at you for longer amounts of time, and seem interested in doing so. Many children who are later diagnosed with Autism have difficulty providing good eye contact with their caregivers, something that should have been well-established earlier in life.

Babbling
When an infant is a few months of age, you may hear them vocalizing vowel sounds. By the time they are approximately six months of age, you may hear some consonant sounds. Then as they get a bit older you will hear what we call bi-syllabic repetitions, which are basically sounds such as "ma-ma" and "ba-ba." By the time your child is approximately eleven, twelve months of age, they should be jargoning. Jargon is simply stringing sounds together, so it sounds like your child is speaking another language of sorts. You may hear something that sounds like "mabababoodu," for example. This is your child's way of practicing how to place certain sounds together in preparation of saying actual words later on. Many children diagnosed with Autism have a delay in the area of language. If your child is not babbling at all, seems to be making no sounds and is normally very quiet, then it may be a "red flag."

Responding to Their Name
By the time a child is approximately ten to twelve months of age, they should look in your direction when you call their name. Now, I'm sure many of you have heard of the phrase "selective hearing." That applies here for sure. My son is 13 months old, and there are times that he just simply does not want to respond to his name. There are better things for him to do at the moment as he's pretty busy, but the difference here is that he's simply ignoring me. I understand that he knows his name and will whip his head around when I call him, no matter where I am at the moment. Many parents of children who are later diagnosed with Autism think that perhaps their child has a hearing loss because they will not look when their name is called. I cannot recall one case where I've worked with a child who had a diagnosis and actually did have a hearing loss (although it's possible). Not responding to their name is just a symptom of Autism itself.

Gestural Communication
Another aspect of language is gestural communication. By the time a child is approximately 12 to 15 months of age, they should be using gestures to communicate their wants and needs to you. Perhaps they point to things around the room for you to label, or maybe you have introduced sign language to them and they have picked up on a few signs.

Seeking You Out
By the time a child is twelve to fifteen months old, they should be seeking you out to show you objects that are of interest to them. This can be as little as the both of you sitting on the floor together and your child holding their toy in their hand and extending it to you to look at. They should also be seeking you out just simply to say "hello" in their own little way. For example, when my son sees me enter the room that he's in, he'll look at me and crawl over to sit in my lap. By seeking you out, your child is showing that their social skills are developing well. A child with Autism has a lot of difficulty when it comes to social skills. They are often very independent, playing by themselves. At times they may not realize you have entered the room and really seem to have no interest in showing you objects that they may be holding, or coming over and trying to interact with you. They may appear to be really "into" what they are doing at any given moment.

Toy Play
Another "red flag" to look for would be the way your child plays with a specific toy or even the types of toys they seem interested in. For example, I had a little boy that I knew, approximately 14 months of age, who was incredibly interested in remote controls. He loved to push the buttons and to spin it around and around in his hand. He could do this for what seemed to be hours. Maybe your child enjoys blocks but seems to only stack them next to each other in a line and becomes upset with you if you try to do anything else with them, like trying to stack them into a tower. As far as babies are concerned, many children with Autism love spinning objects, including ceiling fans. Please remember that if your baby loves to watch a ceiling fan, this absolutely does not mean that they are definitely Autistic. My son is enthralled with the ceiling fans right now (and remote controls, too). It's just something to keep in mind along with these other factors I've laid out for you. Around 12 to 18 months or so, your child should vary play with toys, being able to play with specific toys in different ways. Using blocks as an example, maybe they enjoy placing them in a cup, then taking them out. But instead of doing this over and over again, and only this, they are also interested in perhaps stacking one on top of the other, or banging them together, and will observe you when you try to show them different ways of playing with these blocks.

If your child is displaying any of these signs, please remember that they could absolutely be typically developing. If, indeed, they do have a delay it doesn't necessarily mean that they are Autistic. Their language, for example, could be delayed. Yes, children with Autism normally have delayed language, or if their language is not delayed, it's typically not used appropriately. But delayed language does not equal Autism. If you have any concerns about your child's development, contact your pediatrician who will be able to refer you to a local early intervention program or developmental clinic for testing.