Bertil Hjert asked:
Autism is a type of bio neurological disorder that tends to affect the ability of a person to interact socially & communicate in an effective manner.
There are several symptoms that would suggest you a child with Autism. Remember that the severity of symptoms varies from one individual to the other. However, there is a common connection between the core symptoms in the following areas:
a) Relationships & Social interaction:
• Facing trouble in developing non-verbal communication skills including body posture, facial expressions & eye contact.
• Inability to develop friendships with children of similar age group.
• No interest in sharing interests, enjoyment and/or achievements with other people.
• Lack of empathy. Children with autism may face trouble in understanding feeling of other people including sorrow or pain.
b) Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication:
• Taking too much time to talk. It is proved that about 50 percent of people with autism can never speak.
• Facing difficulty in cracking a conversation. People with autism often develop problems in holding on to a conversation once it has been started.
• Repetitive use of language. People with autism usually repeat a particular phrase again & again that they have heard before.
• Unable to understand listeners’ perspective. For instance, a child with autism will never understand that someone is cracking a joke or using slang. They take every word literally & usually fail to understand the real meaning of the conversation.
c) Restricted interest in activities or play:
• Children with autism develop a unique & unusual concentration on pieces. They concentrate on a particular part of toy such as wheels on a car rather than enjoying the activity with the entire toy.
• Children with autism tend to preoccupy their minds with certain topics. For instance, older children & adults get easily fascinated by train scheduler license plates or weather patterns.
• Children with autism often crave for sameness & routines. For instance, the child will always want to eat bread just before salad. He may also want to drive on the same route to school daily.
• They exhibit stereotyped behaviors. These behaviors include hand flapping & body rocking.
Once you observe above-mentioned symptoms in a child, you should know that the child has developed autism. You need to seek emergency medical attention if you observe the following symptoms:
• An infant or a child does not respond to people around him.
• An infant or a child resists cuddling.
• If a child is not pointing to objects, engaging in simple interactions or bringing items to you.
• A child does not use any words or tries to communicate by the age of eighteen months.
• The child exhibits self injurious behavior such as banging his head or shows aggression frequently.
• The child shows repetitive behavior such as spinning wheels, turning a toy car upside down etc.
• The child avoids eye contact or wants to be left alone.
• The child does not play ‘pretend’ games.
• The child finds it difficult to relate to others.
In case your doctor feels that there could be a problem, it would be good to look for a referral in order to visit a developmental pediatrician or a specialist. You may even contact your local early intervention agency for a child under three years of age or a public school for children above three.