Autism: Deep Down, Parents Know
There is something wrong with my child, but I don't know what it is. Could they possibly have autism?
If you’re reading this page as a parent, you probably have these concerns and are asking yourself this question.
If so, review Early Signs of Autism to review a list of symptoms we developed to help you begin the assessment of your child's condition. If you do see more than 3 of these early signs, please call a professional or contact us as soon as possible
Autism is a Developmental Disorder
- Autism impacts the child's ability to contact others, learn language and communicate.
- Autism is part of the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnostic spectrum.
Background
In the world of autism there is a wide spectrum of symptoms. Terms can be confusing as there are overlapping symptoms with other disorders. Autism, consequently, is often confused with Asbergers and other communication Disorders which encompass speech and language irregularities.
Autism is an early psychosis and typically shows up at an early age. Early psychosis means that the child's mental development process is such that it is hard for them to cope with reality. Signs of autism can be seen from as early as 3 months.
In contrast, Aspergers is a personality disorder and the onset of these symptoms is usually around age 5. The common disorder for Autistic children is typically in the area of poor socialization; while those with Aspergers tend to be much more vocal.
Typically, autistic babies manifest symptoms at a very early age. Autism impacts all aspects of development: emotional, neurological, verbal, and motor. The reason why it is important, even critical, to distinguish early autism and early communication disorders is because the best outcomes come from early intervention with autistic children. It is not that babies with autism can not communicate, rather they do not have the motivation to make sounds or interact with people.
The purpose of this website is to:
- Focus on autistic behaviour in infants and
- Stress the importance of early, appropriate intervention.
Early Identification and Intervention is very Important
Why?
During infancy the brain experiences explosive growth. The social engagement and the speech areas in the brain develop rapidly between birth and the age of 2. How these areas develop is impacted by the combination of nature (brain developing neural circuits) and nurture (the child’s experiences which drive and determine which circuits survive).
When cell growth out paces experience, sensory overload occurs. This causes the child's brain to develop in a haphazard fashion. In other words, the child's brain is not wired in an optimal way. When this happens, children will often manifest developmental and cognitive delay.
During this early period, if autistic behaviour is allowed to persist, then these behaviors will become set in the neurological pathways. The child's brain becomes improperly hard-wired.
We refer to the time that the neural pathways in the child's brain are becoming set as “Pre-Autism”. For more information on early brain development read about the importance of Early Intervention