Detecting the Early Warning Signs of Autism

It seems that there is more awareness than ever about autism these days.  When I go to the bookstore there are multiple shelves reserved for books written about this disorder.  There are more news articles, more research and more public discussions about autism than ever. This greater awareness may be due to the growing rates of children being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.  Some estimates report that one out of every one hundred and fifty children living in the United States may be diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder. 

Yet with all this greater publicity and awareness, autism continues to be a most perplexing and mysterious neurological disorder.  I contend that autism is not an easy disorder to detect early on because the child may not show all the signs right away.  Add to this, every child on the autism spectrum is unique and may show vastly different symptoms than another child on the spectrum.  All we really have to diagnose autism is a list of possible behaviors which the child may or may not display at any one time. 

My two sons could be a case study in this confusion.  My youngest son has autism.  My eldest son does not.  Yet early on my eldest son showed some of the early warning signs of an autism spectrum disorder.  He didn't like cuddling much and would sometimes straighten like a board when being picked up, was a very late talker (didn't say many words at all until his fourth birthday), and was obsessed with trains.  But when he was tested, we were told that my eldest son did not have autism.  So when my youngest son also showed delays in talking we were not as concerned and just thought that he was following in his brother's footsteps in being a late talker. 

We were wrong.

There were distinct differences in my two boys with regard to their early development which I want to highlight here in hopes that it may help parents and caregivers to know what things to focus upon as far as early warning signs of autism.

• My son who has autism didn't respond to his name when we called him but my son who does not have autism always turned to his name.

• My son who has autism did not point to things to show us things in his environment. My son who does not have autism consistently pointed to things. I would say that this was one of the huge indicators that my youngest son had autism. Both of my boys lacked verbal language but my oldest made up for it with pointing and gestures.

• My son who has autism had never asked the question, "What's that?" Although my eldest son lacked many words early on, this question was a part of his verbal repertoire.

• My son who has autism seemed to show more imagination than my son who does not have autism. This is just one example of how difficult it can be to diagnose this disorder. I remember one of the "tests" they did upon examining my youngest son was to hand him a baby doll and brush where he was expected to brush the baby doll's hair. If he brushed the baby doll's hair this was seen as a sign that he had imagination. My son had very little experience and interest in baby dolls and since he always used a comb for his own hair, I failed to see how this test had any functional value whatsoever. After the testing session was over my son set out play dishes of pretend food for stuffed animals but this did not count as this behavior did not occur during the "testing times."