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.
Because autism spectrum disorder varies in severity with each child, there is no hard and fast rule. It is not uncommon for children with ASD to begin developing speech in the same manner as typical children, as well as to regress in speech and language comprehension around two years old.
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.
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.
Some autistic children are gestalt language processors. This means that they first start speaking in multi-word “chunks,” or phrases. This is called echolalia. They may repeat what you say right after you say it, called immediate echolalia.
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.
The study brings hope to those parents who worry that children who are not talking by age 4 or 5 are unlikely to develop speech at all. Some children with ASD develop meaningful language after age 5. "There is a burst of kids in the 6- to 7- age range who do get language," Dr. Wodka said.
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.
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.
Autistic children can have particular sleep and settling problems, including: irregular sleeping and waking patterns – for example, lying awake until very late or waking very early in the morning. sleeping much less than expected for their age, or being awake for more than an hour during the night.
The earliest signs of autism involve the absence of typical behaviors—not the presence of atypical ones—so they can be tough to spot. In some cases, the earliest symptoms of autism are even misinterpreted as signs of a “good baby,” since the infant may seem quiet, independent, and undemanding.
Overall, infants later diagnosed with autism are quieter than the controls. And at 9 to 12 months of age, they produce an average of 4.5 syllables per minute, compared with 5.8.
Infants later diagnosed with ASD will demonstrate significantly lower canonical babbling ratios (independent of the canonical stage criterion) compared to TD infants. Infants later diagnosed with ASD will demonstrate significantly fewer total vocalizations (lower volubility) at both age ranges compared to TD infants.
They usually prefer to play alone and have challenges working together with others. Various types of therapy are available to help kids with autism and their families to play together and build relationships.
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.
In some cases, a child may appear to have clumsiness and awkwardness in doing normal activities like walking and running. Some children also have repetitive behaviors such as hand clapping, twisting, or twirling.
For babies who cannot yet speak, smiling is key. Grins convey an infant's emotional state and well-being and can help get a parent's attention and care. A new study reports that by the time they turn 1, infants who are later diagnosed with autism smile less often than those who do not develop the disorder.
However, they look up to the mother or caregiver for social referencing and hover around or cling to the caregiver. Children with an ASD are not vigilant and do not look up to the caregiver for social referencing. They may not cling to the caregiver, although go up to them for succor.
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.
Social interaction and communication
not consistently respond to their name being called. not consistently use gestures on their own – for example, they might not wave bye-bye or clap without being asked to, or they might not nod for yes or shake their head for no.
Babies with autism often selectively respond to sounds; for example, a baby with autism might not acknowledge a parent calling their name, but they may react suddenly to a television being turned on.
Level 1 is the mildest, or “highest functioning” form of autism, which includes those who would have previously been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Individuals with ASD level 1 may have difficulty understanding social cues and may struggle to form and maintain personal relationships.