Children with autism can be silent or chatty, bright or intellectually challenged. Their behaviors can range from quirky to aggressive.
After an initial regular display of Vocalizations, at 6–12 months there is a decrease in Vocalizations in infants with ASD, as opposed to the increase found in TD infants. At 6–18 months Babbling emerges and increases progressively both in ASD and TD infants.
Some children with autism may start talking at 12-16 months. Most don't start talking until later. Some will start talking between the ages of 2-3 years. Other children talk even later, and some children never learn to talk.
One of the hallmarks of High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger's is the kid's tendency to be obsessed with a particular topic and to talk incessantly about it. The child may want to constantly talk about cartoon characters, insects, movies, race cars, video games, etc.
At 6 months , a baby should recognize other people's emotions and be able to respond to them. An autistic baby, on the other hand, may not respond to a smile or other facial expressions. They may also respond to certain expressions or experiences with facial expressions that are inappropriate.
Young children may express more voiced than unvoiced laughter, as they haven't yet learned to purposely laugh. The test group of autistic children laughed just about as often as the non-autistic kids, but the autistic children's laughter was 98 percent voiced, while non-autistic children produced both types.
Babies readily share enjoyment with you by smiling or laughing and looking at you. Some children with autism smile to show they're happy but don't share their enjoyment. Others show little facial expression or have flat affect and rarely smile so you may not know when they're happy.
A child with level 1 autism may understand and speak in complete sentences, but have difficulty engaging in back-and-forth conversation. Children with ASD level 1 experience some inflexibility of behavior, like difficulty switching between tasks, staying organized, and planning.
Some people with autism are chatty; others are silent. Many have sensory issues, gastrointestinal problems, sleep difficulties and other medical problems. Others may have social-communication delays – and that's it.
In the case of vocal stimming (or verbal stimming), the child might make noises such as groaning, grunting, high- pitched screeching, squealing, humming, or repeating random words, words to a familiar song, phrases, or lines from a movie.
Some children with ASD speak in a high-pitched or sing-song voice or use robot-like speech. Other children may use stock phrases to start a conversation. For example, a child may say, “My name is Tom,” even when he talks with friends or family.
For example, they might make babbling sounds, point, and use other types of body language to get what they want. If your child isn't yet verbally communicating, but is actively engaging with people and communicating in these other ways, it is unlikely that their speech delay is due to autism.
Sometimes, autistic children may even not like to be held, hugged, or touched by anyone and may be fussy or reactive when forced to do so.
On average, out of every 100 sounds, the autism group made 6 babbles compared with the controls' 17 at age 9 to 12 months. The children with autism lagged behind even at 15 to 18 months: They made 16 babbles per 100 sounds, compared with 28 in the control group.
At both ages, those in the autism and disability groups are more likely than the controls to transition quickly from whimpering to intense crying. This suggests that the children have trouble managing their emotions, the researchers say.
There are other brain disorders that mimic autism symptoms, like ADHD and anxiety disorders, including selective mutism. Autism can be misdiagnosed as another disorder with some shared symptoms.
Some developmental health professionals refer to PDD-NOS as “subthreshold autism." In other words, it's the diagnosis they use for someone who has some but not all characteristics of autism or who has relatively mild symptoms.
Some people on the autism spectrum may seek social opportunities and may initiate social interactions themselves, others may enjoy social situations and interactions when they are initiated effectively by others.
ASD Level 1 – Level 1 ASD is currently the lowest classification.
Early signs of autism usually appear in the first 1-2 years of life. Some children have many early signs of autism, whereas others have only a few. If your child shows early signs of autism, talk to your GP, child and family health nurse or paediatrician as soon as you can.
There is not just one cause of ASD. There are many different factors that have been identified that may make a child more likely to have ASD, including environmental, biologic, and genetic factors.
Early signs of autism can be detected in babies by playing peek-a-boo, research has shown. If their brains respond less than they should to the stimulating game they are more likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as toddlers.
Many children with autism are drawn to water for its calming, sensory experience. In fact, a 2015 study[1] found that children with ASD enjoy swimming significantly more than children without ASD.
Age of first walking (AOW) is reported to be later in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with typical development. However, the relationship between AOW and variations in ASD symptoms across different neurodevelopmental disorders is largely unknown.