Signs of Autism: Red Flags to Recognize

Signs of autism are usually seen during the very early stages of a child's life. Symptoms should be detected as soon as possible to reduce the damage produced by the disorder. An autistic child shows less response to stimuli, does not recognize motion and is inattentive to the mother or the caretaker.

Critical damage to child behavior, social interaction, communication skills and adaptability are the effects of child autism. These children have slower development than other children within their age group. They are also more susceptible to diseases, respiratory insufficiency, allergies, digestive disorders and other diseases.

Autistic children have noticeably unusual personality, ability, and skills. Their behavior is affected by specific situational factors. Autistic children are sometimes very happy, then very sad after only a few minutes. It is hard to detect symptoms of autism in a baby or an infant since speech and motor function usually improve at around 10 months of age in normal children.

One puzzling form of autism is Regressive autism. The child shows normal development up until a specific age when development backslides. The child will have a noticeable decline in communication and social interaction. An autistic child would seem to have a world of his own.

Symptoms of autism include being non-responsive to one's name and selective responses to sounds. A child with autism may react to one word or sound yet ignore others. They do not follow movements of their parents or ignore items being shown to them. They have reduced capacity to imitate because they have difficulty in being able to focus. A baby would normally wave back if someone was waving at him or her but a child with autism will simply be unresponsive. An autistic child almost always has a blank face or can be seldom seen to have any facial expression.

Autistic children do not demonstrate any understanding of other people's feelings. They find it hard to relate or communicate with others. Another person may be crying or laughing beside an autistic child and it would not affect them. You will not be able to see a smile or a frown regardless of the situation around the child. Children with autism do not play with other children. They lack interest in normal games.

It is crucial to look out for symptoms of autism within the first few months of a child's life. Early detection of autism will be very beneficial to both parent and child since there will be able to get proper care and treatment sooner than later.