The behavioral symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often appear early in development. Many children show symptoms of autism by 12 months to 18 months of age or earlier. Some early signs of autism include: Problems with eye contact.
Main signs of autism
finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling. getting very anxious about social situations. finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own.
The diagnosis is based on behavioral symptoms or features. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children be screened for autism at 18 and 24 months. Autism can be diagnosed by 18-24 months, but it's not usually diagnosed until 4-5 years.
Babies with autism are thought to be late to meet physical milestones, such as pointing and sitting. But a new report finds that most babies with autism and intellectual disability take their first steps — a major motor milestone — on time or earlier than those with other conditions that affect cognition1.
Developmental red flags
By 9 months: No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles, or other facial expressions. By 12 months: Lack of response to name. By 12 months: No babbling or “baby talk.” By 12 months: No back-and-forth gestures, such as pointing, showing, reaching, or waving.
repetitive movements, such as hand flapping or spinning. intense interest in a few special subjects. excessive lining up of toys. trouble sensing or understanding the feelings of others.
The second-born child has about 50 percent higher odds of having childhood autism than the firstborn, the study found.
Characteristics of Mild Autism
Repetitive or fixated behaviors, interests, or activities: Autistic people often repeat movements or words as a way to self-regulate, a behavior often referred to as “stimming.” They may also adhere to specific routines and have specific and intense interests.
Autism spectrum disorder has no single known cause. Given the complexity of the disorder, and the fact that symptoms and severity vary, there are probably many causes. Both genetics and environment may play a role.
There's no lab test for it, so doctors rely on observing the behaviors of very young children and listening to the concerns of their parents. ASD has a very wide range of symptoms. Some people who are “on the spectrum” have severe mental disabilities.
Repetitive behaviour
For example, children might: make repetitive noises like grunts, throat-clearing or squealing. do repetitive movements like body-rocking or hand-flapping. do things like flicking a light switch repeatedly.
Children conceived in December (OR = 1.09 [95% CI = 1.02 – 1.17]), January (1.08 [1.00 –1.17]), February (1.12 [1.04– 1.20]), or March (1.16 [1.08 – 1.24]) had higher risk of developing autism compared with those conceived in July.
One of the core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the frequency and persistence of repetitive and stereotyped movements during toddlerhood, together with restricted interests and activities. Evidence for this is mainly found in studies with infants ages 1 year and older.
Children born to older parents are at a higher risk for having autism. Parents who have a child with ASD have a 2 to 18 percent chance of having a second child who is also affected. Studies have shown that among identical twins, if one child has autism, the other will be affected about 36 to 95 percent of the time.
Autistic Children May Show Deviations from the Normal Pattern of Crawling. Asymmetrical lack of adequate support in the arms. As shown in Fig. 6, this infant did not have adequate support in his arms, so that he supported himself on his forearms rather than his hands.
Sometimes, autistic children may even not like to be held, hugged, or touched by anyone and may be fussy or reactive when forced to do so.
A child with level 1 autism may understand and speak in complete sentences, but have difficulty engaging in back-and-forth conversation. Children with ASD level 1 experience some inflexibility of behavior, like difficulty switching between tasks, staying organized, and planning.
If young children are autistic, they might: rarely show interest in other children – for example, they might not look towards them or try to get their attention. rarely start games like peekaboo or round the garden. rarely do pretend play – for example, they might not pretend to feed a teddy bear.
The findings hint that children with autism are smaller in utero, but their growth then accelerates: They catch up and surpass typical children in height and head size between birth and age 3.
Often children with autism can sing much better than they can speak. Even totally nonverbal children will hum or babble along with the music.
Examples of vocal stims include the following:
Repeating phrases that others say or quotes from films or television shows, or radio station jingles, i.e., echolalia. Repeating their own phrases, i.e., palilalia. Random humming or singing. Making or mimicking sounds. Groaning or grunting.
Some children with ASD may not be able to communicate using speech or language, and some may have very limited speaking skills. Others may have rich vocabularies and be able to talk about specific subjects in great detail. Many have problems with the meaning and rhythm of words and sentences.