5 Signs That Can Identify A Child With Autism

It is not strange to hear phrases like “that boy in class does not relate much to others, he seems autistic” or “you are so independent and lonely that you seem autistic”. The word “autism” popularly designates all those people who have problems communicating and relating to others. However, in clinical terms this is far from the case.

There are many studies that have proven how this neurological disorder affects more boys than girls. It is a disease that is diagnosed around the age of 3 years. It usually appears gradually, so that the alarm signals, if they exist, will add up. Before them, let us not forget that the treatment of children with autism produces more powerful results the earlier this intervention is.

Autism requires great involvement

It is important to mention the hard work that will have to be done with the child with autism. Years of work to improve this disorder. If it is treated early and systematically, it does not have to cause major dysfunction in the life of the person who suffers from it. Emphasizing the importance of early detection so that the intervention begins as soon as possible, let’s see what signs could indicate that our child has autism.

As Vargas and Navas (2012) highlight in their article “Childhood autism”: “Autism is a developmental disorder that persists throughout life. It becomes evident during the first 30 months of life and gives rise to different degrees of alteration of language and communication, social skills and imagination ” .

1. Autism causes you to not connect with others

People tend to connect with each other, but children with autism are distant, even with their loved ones. So much is the disconnection that his attitude to an angry face or another smiling one is exactly the same.

Children with autism focus on relationships with objects. People do not require a special interest for them and the information they receive from them, whether in the form of words or gestures, is usually ignored. Johnson and Myer (2007) state that “social deficits appear in the first 2 years of life, and often go unnoticed by parents. These children often do not seek connection with others, they feel happy being alone, ignoring the plea of attention from their parents, and rarely made eye contact or try to get attention from others with gestures or vocalizations “ .

All this causes the child to appear isolated and to present strange and different behaviors from children of his age. The faces and expressiveness of people do not attract your attention. Nor does he respond with a smile to someone who smiles at him, nor does he feel that need to participate in fun games with other children. The autistic child is lonely and feels no need not to be.

2. Your emotional reactions are disproportionate

All children have tantrums, cry or scream in contexts that we consider normal. For example, if we are in the supermarket and we do not buy that sweet that they want so much, it is likely that they will explode and try to get our attention so that we change our mind.

Children with autism act completely differently. In a normal situation they have emotional reactions that do not correspond to the context. There is no incentive for their reaction, nothing has provoked it, at least not apparently.

It is very common that they even present aggressive behavior towards themselves. For example, hitting their head against the wall or with a toy they are holding. Why can all this happen? Perhaps, because they are in a place that is strange to them or because they are surrounded by many people. New and strange situations can favor these types of reactions.

3. Has a delay in language development

Normally, around the age of two, children begin to combine words like “chair baby”, “bad cat” trying to imitate the language of adults. But, children with autism don’t start doing this on their own until very late.

This is one of the most significant signs, because while the children around them begin to say their first words, to express themselves verbally, to prepare their vocal tract for communication through babbling, the child with autism remains absent and silent.

So serious can this be that many children with autism do not begin to make a sound until a specialist, a speech therapist, begins to treat them. Only in this way, we can observe how the language skills that are normal for someone their age begin to manifest.

Vargas and Navas (2012) point out a series of characteristics in speech:

• Lack of a proper look.
• If there is language, it is not very fluent.
• Absence of expressions of warmth or pleasure with the gaze.
• Lack of recognition of the mother’s voice.
• Delayed onset of babbling.
• They tend to ignore vocalizations.
• Reduction or absence of the use of pre-verbal gestures.
• Lack of desire to communicate.

4. Maintains repetitive behaviors and hypersensitivity

Children with autism have a tendency to show repetitive behaviors. For example, repeating the same word over and over again, or putting an object in place over and over. Also, they can open and close a drawer without getting tired over and over again.

But, repetitive behavior is not the most striking sign that our son may have autism, but also his apparent hypersensitivity. Children with autism can be agitated by noise, light, smells, colors, and any other stimulus.

Your reaction may be the one we described above in point 2, a disproportionate reaction for no apparent reason to a stimulus that is normal for us. A not very intense noise, an odor that may not be unpleasant and a color that is striking. All this, to an autistic child, can lead to a situation of stress and agitation.

5. Does not develop non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication is very important, it represents 93% of what we communicate. Here both our movements come into play, as well as gestures, tone of voice, intonation, and so on. Only 7% of our communication is verbal.

Children with autism, due to their problems to relate and communicate, fail to develop non-verbal communication, so they do not identify it in others either. Previously, we have talked about how a child with autism responds in the same way to a smiling face as an angry one. Their behavior indicates indifference to non-verbal stimuli.

For all this, children with autism tend to maintain a serious expression that does not go according to the festive or relaxed atmosphere with which they are often surrounded. They do not know how to express themselves with words, but neither do they naturally with gestures or if they do, this communication is very primitive. For example, they can do it to ask but not to share something that has caught their attention.

If you have come this far, surely you are interested in this topic so we leave you an interesting documentary that was broadcast a few years ago by La 2 de Televisión Española and which is still interesting and current.

Finally, note that these are the most characteristic signs that identify children with autism. Although, before daring with a diagnosis, we must go to a professional. The sooner this disorder is identified, the sooner appropriate treatment and therapy can be started so that the child’s situation improves and has a better prognosis.