Diagnosing Autism

Autism Symptoms vary widely in severity, include impairment in social interaction, fixation on inanimate objects, inability to communicate normally, and resistance to changes in daily routine. Characteristic traits include lack of eye contact, repetition of words or phrases, unmotivated tantrums, inability to express needs verbally, and insensitivity to pain.

Behaviors may change over time. Autistic children often have other disorders of brain function; about two thirds are mentally retarded; over one quarter develop seizures. Symptoms of autism can begin immediately after birth, but often parents begin to notice them when the child is between 12 and 18 months old. This is the age at which most infants begin to use language and show interest in social activities. A diagnosis of autism is usually made when the child is between 2 and 3 years, but new research is looking at ways to diagnose children as young as 12 to 14 months. Children with Asperger syndrome (one of five developmental disorders that represent the autism spectrum) may be diagnosed later because they do not have the same language or communication problems children with autism exhibit early on.

Some Common Signs Exhibited by Autistic Children

Spinning	Repetitive behavior (perseverance)
No speech	Balancing, e.g. standing on a fence
Flapping hands	Behavior that is aggressive to others
Walking on tiptoes	Lack of interaction with other children
Lack of eye contact	Extreme dislike of touching certain textures
Self-injurious behavior	Desire to keep objects in a certain physical pattern
Lack of interest in toys	Desire to follow set patterns of behavior/Interaction
Dislike of being touched	Treating other people as if they were inanimate objects
Non-speech vocalizations	Delayed echolalia: repeating something heard at an earlier time
Preoccupation with hands	Confusion between the pronouns "I" and "You"
Lack of response to people	Echolalia: speech consisting of literally repeating something heard
Extreme dislike of certain foods	Either extremely passive behavior or extremely nervous, activebehavior
Delayed development of speech	When picked up, offering no "help" ("feels like lifting a sack of potatoes")
Extreme dislike of certain sounds	"Islets of competence", areas where the child has normal or even advanced competence. Typical examples include drawing skill, musical skill, arithmetic, calendar arithmetic, memory skills, perfect pitch