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Early Detection of Autism
According to the New England Center for Children, Autism is a developmental disorder with onset in infancy. The presentation of symptoms of autism can vary greatly, however, the deficits necessary for diagnosing it are as follows:
- Impairment in reciprocal social interaction (e.g., limited eye contact, responding to people as if they are objects).
- Communicative deficits (e.g., limited or no verbal communicative skills, problems using pronouns).
- Repetitive behavior or marked adherence to specific routines (e.g., body rocking, problems transitioning from one activity or environment to another).
Early detection of autism is key. If you point to a toy across the room, does your child look at it? Does your child ever bring objects over to show you? Does your child respond to his or her name when you call? If you answered no to all of these questions, you may want to ask your pediatrician for a complete copy of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT). You can find a link to the M-CHAT at http://www.firstsigns.org/downloads/m-chat.PDF
Autism can be reliably diagnosed by or before age 3. Parents and expert clinicians can usually detect symptoms of autism during infancy, although a formal diagnosis is generally not made until the child fails to develop functional language by age 2. Boys are three-to-four times more likely to be affected by autism than girls and children with autism often also have mental retardation. Autism occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups.
Although there is currently no known cure for autism, autism treatment is available. Persons with autism can make progress if they receive appropriate, individual intervention. Preschool children who receive intensive, individualized, behavioral interventions have been shown to make marked progress with some eventually losing their diagnosis of autism.
If you would like more information about this disorder, which affects 1 in 250 children and is more prevalent in boys, go to www.necc.org.
