Some of the very common early signs of ASD are speech/language delay and poor social interaction as infants. ASD affects 1 in 68 children with a higher predominance in males. Boys are five times more likely to be diagnosed than girls.
Below are some common behaviors exhibited by children with ASD. Every child will have different symptoms and varying degrees of ASD, which makes diagnosing ASD very difficult. Early intervention with intense therapies, such as physical, speech and occupational therapy have been shown to lead to better functioning for children with ASD individuals as they grow older.
Ultimately, as an educator, trust your instincts and refer any concerns that you may have to the parents to have a full evaluation done by a Developmental Pediatrician. Autism can often present with other medical disorders including ADHD, Intellectual disability and other Hereditary disorders. A full evaluation is necessary to adequately diagnosis the child and begin early intervention. An evaluation may include hearing and vision testing, blood work and Psychological testing.
Early diagnosis, early intervention and treatment will lead to a better outcome for children with ASD and provide them with greater life opportunities .
Parents and teachers spend the most amount of time with children and, therefore, play an essential role in addressing developmental concerns when they arise. In many cases, children with mild ASD, may not be diagnosed until they start school and a teacher notices that a child doesn't behave as other children and brings their concerns to the parents. Teachers play a vital role in identifying children with ASD and other developmental/behavioral problems.
Social Differences in Children with ASD
- Doesn't keep eye contact or makes very little eye contact
- Doesn't respond to a parent's smile or other facial expressions
- Doesn't look at objects or events a parent is looking at or pointing to
- Doesn't point to objects or events to get a parent to look at them
- Doesn't bring objects of personal interest to show to a parent
- Doesn't often have appropriate facial expressions
- Unable to perceive what others might be thinking or feeling by looking at their facial expressions
- Doesn't show concern (empathy) for others
- Unable to make friends or uninterested in making friends
- Doesn't point at things to indicate needs or share things with others
- Doesn't say single words by 16 months
- Repeats exactly what others say without understanding the meaning (often called parroting or echoing)
- Doesn't respond to name being called but does respond to other sounds (like a car horn or a cat's meow)
- Refers to self as "you" and others as "I" and may mix up pronouns
- Often doesn't seem to want to communicate
- Doesn't start or can't continue a conversation
- Doesn't use toys or other objects to represent people or real life in pretend play
- May have a good rote memory, especially for numbers, letters, songs, TV jingles, or a specific topic
- May lose language or other social milestones, usually between the ages of 15 and 24 months (often called regression)
- Rocks, spins, sways, twirls fingers, walks on toes for a long time (past 5 years old), or flaps hands (called "stereotypic behavior")
- Likes routines, order, and rituals; has difficulty with change
- Obsessed with a few or unusual activities, doing them repeatedly during the day
- Plays with parts of toys instead of the whole toy (e.g., spinning the wheels of a toy truck)
- Doesn't seem to feel pain
- May repeat words or behaviors over and over again (like saying the same word from a sentence they hear repeatedly)
- May be very sensitive or not sensitive at all to smells, sounds, lights, textures, and touch
- Unusual use of vision or gaze—looks at objects from unusual angles