What are the main signs of autism in young children?

Question

What are the main signs of autism in young children?

Answer 1

Most children don`t get diagnosed until around age 2 or 3,but some early signs are,toe walking,slow or no speech,Sensitivity to sound.They may cry or cover ears from hearing certain nosies.Like a hair dryer,electric mixer,motorcycle,some noisey toys.Finger flicking.They may put their fingers up to the eyes and flicker them.Stares at ceiling fans or credits after a movie,digital numbers on a clock,not playing appropriately with toys,May flip over a toy car and spin the wheels.Digestive problems,loose stools can be a problem with kids with autism,many are gluten and casien intolerant.These may cause loose,smelly bowel movements.They may also carry around an object all day,like a wooden spoon or straw.The no eye contact thing,but my son always made eye contact.Many kids do make eye contact,so you can`t go by that.Obsessive compulsive disorder.My son pushes buttons nonstop on the TV,VCR,alarm clock.Some kids line up toys.Open and close doors,nonstop.

Answer 2

the main signs are speech difficulties and difficulty playing appropriately and interactign with their environemnt-

among other things..

Answer 3

That's a really difficult question to answer. My son has autism and to be quite honest we didn't pick up any definite signs until we went to see the psychologist and they were pointed out to us and we started to look for them.  In saying that they tend to have delayed speech and like routine. if their routine is changed they normally react really badly. They normally prefer to play on their own and don.t like other children invading their personal space they can also become obsessive about particular subjects or even tv programmes. My sons favourite was Thomas the Tank Engine.  He could recite the whole stories from beginning to end and knew every single engines name, colour and number at he age of three.

The best person to diagnose autism is a clinical psychologist because all children will display some of these behaviours at some point.  It is when you get them all together at the same time that autism is more likely.  All children are different.  You can't generalise when it comes to autism as all children with autism are also different and display it in different ways.

Answer 4

hard to answer-my own son who is autistic the very first signs for me (that he was different) were he would rarely give eye contact -never cuddle you-and absolutely went berserk if you changed something about his surroundings or routine-took me 7 years to get him diagnosed  and to say he was hard work was an understatement-hes now 12 in mainstream high school on the gifted and talented register for all his subjects and an absolute joy-there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel