By the time your toddler is 18 months, they might start to do 'pretend play'. For example, your toddler might pretend to drink from a cup or talk on the phone using a toy.
A pretend telephone communication can demonstrate a very young child's grasp of speaking languages, imitating adult reality and being held in mind, as Anne O'Connor explains…
18 – 24 months. At this stage, children are most likely to engage in simple pretend play. The child will perform a pretend action on a toy or person who isn't themselves.
At 18 months, according to the CDC, developmental red flags may be when a child is not copying others, not gaining new words, and losing any skills they may have once had. For a 2-year-old, look out for an inability to follow simple instructions, walk steadily, or use common items like a spoon.
At some point, the young child will start to engage in pretend play by using objects to represent other objects. This is called symbolic play. This means a child who wishes to pretend to talk on the phone, may reach for a block instead of a real phone or a toy that represents the real object.
While most children at age 2 are experimenting with onomatopoeia (words that describe noises, like “beep beep!”) and starting to ask questions (“Where's Dada?”), a more advanced child might already be speaking in longer sentences with many verbs, such as, “I played and I jumped and I sang!” says Fujimoto.
Children with autism rarely develop pretend play skills without help. They may enjoy placing toy trains on a track. But they're unlikely to enact scenes or make sound effects unless they are actively taught and encouraged to do so.
It's even possible for kids to develop in an expected way until around 18 months, when the progress they made with certain milestones seems to stop or regress, resulting in the loss of once-mastered skills, such as babbling, waving, pointing or making other social gestures.
Signs of autism in babies
From age 6 months on, differences in social development, communication, and fine motor skills were evident. Also, it's a red flag if your baby: Doesn't show interest in faces. Doesn't make eye contact, doesn't smile, and may seem to look right through you.
What are the early warning signs for autism spectrum disorder? The early warning signs for an ASD include concerns about a child's social skills, communication, and restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, activities, and emotional regulation.
vocabulary starts to develop. Typically children use at least 20 words by 18 months, but many will have 40 or even more.
Functional play (14-24 months):
They might take a comb and rub it on their head or take socks and touch them on their feet. The child isn't pretending, but is showing you “look, I know how to use this thing!” First they will use the object on themselves, then they will do it with another person.
Dressing up and pretend play start at around 15-18 months. Your toddler might enjoy pretending to be a grown-up, using props like old clothes and hats. For example, your toddler might imagine they're driving a bus or serving in a shop. Your toddler learns by copying what others do – especially you or older children.
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.
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.
While a non-gifted child may have a vocabulary of 150 to 300 words at age 2, gifted children may have surpassed the 100-word mark by the time they are 18 months old. At 18 months, most children have a vocabulary of from 5 to 20 words, although some do reach the 50-word milestone by the time they are 2 years old.
Although the exact cause of autism is still unknown, there is evidence to suggest that genetics play a significant role. Since autism is less prevalent in females, autism was always thought to be passed down from the mother. However, research suggests that autism genes are usually inherited from the father.
Stimming – or self-stimulatory behaviour – is repetitive or unusual body movement or noises. Stimming might include: hand and finger mannerisms – for example, finger-flicking and hand-flapping. unusual body movements – for example, rocking back and forth while sitting or standing.
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.
Level 1 autism: traits and behaviors
Inflexibility with ideas and actions. Difficulty switching between activities. Executive functioning limitations. Difficulty building and maintaining social relationships.
ASD Level 1: Requiring Support
Individuals with ASD level 1 may have difficulty understanding social cues and may struggle to form and maintain personal relationships. A child with level 1 autism may understand and speak in complete sentences, but have difficulty engaging in back-and-forth conversation.
You'll most likely hear a mix of 'babble' and real words. At 18 months, your toddler is learning words all the time – usually 1-2 words a week, or maybe even a word a day. Your toddler might name and point at familiar objects, people and body parts – for example, ears, nose or toes.
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.
Newborn to 3 Months
Babies will also start smiling around this age, begin babbling, and grasp objects in their hands. Those who may be on the autism spectrum will mostly avoid any type of eye contact and will typically not smile or exhibit many facial expressions.
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.