There are signs that can be associated with autism from an early age, but some of them can be moderate and, for this reason, are more difficult for the parent to identify, even if he spends most of the time in his company.
For easy classification, below are some of the signs that should be considered worrisome, depending on the age of the child:
- At 6 months of age: very little or no smiles, as well as a lack of expressions of joy and interest. Eye contact is also limited or completely absent;
- At 9 months of age: low or no reaction to hearing sounds, as well as to smiles or other facial reactions;
- At 12 months of age: little or no syllabification, the child does not mumble, doesn’t point to objects or react to his own name at all;
- At 16 months of age: the language and vocabulary of the child at this age is limited to only a few words or no verbal expression;
- At 24 months of age: a very poor vocabulary and the expression of only a few sentences, mostly two words, with the child failing to imitate or repeat what does he hear.
In addition to these signals that must be correlated with the age and cognitive development of the child, there is a set of symptoms that are considered to be alarm signals at any age:
- Lack or avoidance of visual contact of any kind;
- The desire to spend most of the time alone;
- Loss of already existing skills in the area of speech or social interaction;
- Difficulty of understanding other people's emotions;
- Persistent repetition of words or sentences;
- Repetitive behaviors in usual activities;
- Unusual reactions to external factors, such as sounds, smells, tastes or lights.
