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Betalife Team's blog

Autism Disorder - What are the early warning signs?
6 July 2008 - 2:16am  —  Betalife Team

I have been doing a lot of reading on Autism, and I feel the true answers as to why the numbers of children diagnosed are still missing. But to start, I thought we should make parents aware of the early warning signs.

1. Do they respond to their name by 12 months of age?
If you call their name, children should respond the majority of the time, so responding no more than 20% of the time is unusual.

2. Did you suspect they might have a hearing problem?
Autistic children seem to have selective hearing. They might not respond to you calling out to them, but they will then respond to something else like a car honking their horn.

3. Do you think your child responds emotionally to others?
Do they respond to someone else's smiles, or when they play games with them? Do they show empathy towards others, especially other children who are hurt? Autistic children just don't seem to respond to other people.

4. Does your child imitate others?
Children are great mimics, and from as early as 9 months old they should be able to respond to your actions by imitating them. So if you clap, they will try to clap. If you make a sound, they often try to copy you. If you wave at them, they will learn to wave back. Autistic children don't tend to imitate anyone.

5. Do they engage in looking at things or sharing things with you?
It is normal for a child to develop the skills to share a conversation or moment with their parents. So they might look where you are pointing, or show you something. It doesn't have to contain words, but you know there is a process of communication happening. Autism tends to dull these responses.

6. How interested are they in play?
By a child's first birthday, you might find they are starting to play by pretending they are doing something. They might try to feed their favourite bear, or give you a pretend sip of a drink. As they approach their second birthday, this desire to role play is strengthened, and you will see the children pretending they are eating from a toy set, or they will role play as someone else like a parent, or superhero. Autistic children never seem to engage in pretend playing, and are often not even that interested in most toys.

It is often very difficult for a parent to admit to themselves that something is wrong, but the quicker a diagnosis is made, the sooner you can begin treatment. There are methods which are showing enormous promise, and autistic children are often going on to lead normal lives. If you have any concerns about your child, talk to your doctor immediately.
 

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luvin's picture

7 July 2008 - 12:23pm — luvin

my brother paid for vaccines for his kids that had no side effects
just a couple of weeks ago we paid out a fair bit to have felicity immunised with one that has no side effects
my son is now 21,and believe me it has been a long hard struggle he cannot remember much and has difficulty at times but put him with a car he can rebuild it in no time
you just have to find the one thing they are good at and encourage,he use to have a traineeship with a follow up apprenticeship but lost all that because of a stupid accident at school,because of a non thinking teacher giving orders
suzie's picture

7 July 2008 - 12:11pm — suzie

Sus, you said:
"I became aware of this when I had my first child - because a lot of first time parents get paranoid about Autism, the characteristics and the correlation between immunisations and autism (however I have done extensive reading and there is NO (that's right - NO) scientific link between immunisations and autism."

You can't say that for sure. On Dr Briffa's site there was a very heated debated on this issue:
http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2008/05/30/why-the-mmr-autism-war-is-not-over/

Also, if you don't want to immunise your kids you get a form from the Education Department I think, fill it out and kids can then go to school even when not immunised.

Both my kids are older and have already been immunised. If I had to make the decision now to immunise or not I would be very confused.
LisaO's picture

7 July 2008 - 10:14am — LisaO

My child is ASD (Austism Spectrum Disorder), and with all the reading & research it is my sincere belief that immunisation is just one of the contributing factors, genes are another. It is not the individual immnisation (which are tested thoroughly), but the practice of 'mixing them up', ie measles is ok, mumps is ok, but put them together MMR.... this has not been tested!

In regards to the points above a guide only of course.... my son can and has mimiced like no other since he was tiny, but could never hold eye contact. He will socialise and hold a conversation - but only about his 'pet topics'... often ASD kids are the 'little geniuses' with 'wierd' obsessions, ie 'power points' or 'red holdens' if you talk about their obsessions, they will talk till the cows come home. Smiling

My sons vocab is hugh - friends call him the dictionary, however he takes words literaly - so does not understand slang or common phrases and their meanings.

He can not read faces - so therefore emotions - he knows happy and sad, but can not read confused or agitated or anyother face you can pull - he is 12 y.o.

If you want to know more... and do some self tests go here...http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/tests/default.asp
LisaO's picture

7 July 2008 - 10:14am — LisaO

My child is ASD (Austism Spectrum Disorder), and with all the reading & research it is my sincere belief that immunisation is just one of the contributing factors, genes are another. It is not the individual immnisation (which are tested thoroughly), but the practice of 'mixing them up', ie measles is ok, mumps is ok, but put them together MMR.... this has not been tested!

In regards to the points above a guide only of course.... my son can and has mimiced like no other since he was tiny, but could never hold eye contact. He will socialise and hold a conversation - but only about his 'pet topics'... often ASD kids are the 'little geniuses' with 'wierd' obsessions, ie 'power points' or 'red holdens' if you talk about their obsessions, they will talk till the cows come home. Smiling

My sons vocab is hugh - friends call him the dictionary, however he takes words literaly - so does not understand slang or common phrases and their meanings.

He can not read faces - so therefore emotions - he knows happy and sad, but can not read confused or agitated or anyother face you can pull - he is 12 y.o.

If you want to know more... and do some self tests go here...http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/tests/default.asp
sus-123's picture

7 July 2008 - 8:01am — sus-123

I became aware of this when I had my first child - because a lot of first time parents get paranoid about Autism, the characteristics and the correlation between immunisations and autism (however I have done extensive reading and there is NO (that's right - NO) scientific link between immunisations and autism.

I thank the unverse every day that I have three healthy children.

Sus

Nick's picture

6 July 2008 - 11:33am — Nick

I have not heard anything about MMR imunisation being an issue! This really concerns me as Eric is still to have his. I would avoid it but these days they dont let you, he cant go to day care if not fully imunised which is so silly! I stronly believe in immunisation but not when there are high risks. I was asked to put Eric in a new trial at the royal childrens hospita for a maningacocal (no idea of spelling) vaccine. I decided there were to many risks compared to the benefits so wont do it. I cant afford to take chances with his health

The next goal is always one step closer- keep moving
maree's picture

6 July 2008 - 9:21am — maree

Yeh you just have to keep an eye on it and if you think there is something not quiet right go to the doctors and push to get some answers.

Maree I will get there!!!
luvin's picture

6 July 2008 - 8:16am — luvin

all i can say is my son was not diagnosed until he was in year 8,despite going to so many specialists to find the problem the excuse was always he was early and had problems at birth,so what my oldest was 6 weeks early and developed normally
so parents be aware and push if you see warning signs
Betalife Team's picture

6 July 2008 - 7:41am — Betalife Team

It's scary isn't it Kate. I think just about every parent has said there was a link with the MMR immunisation, yet the medical profession just won't accept what parents are telling them.

The figures are rising dramatically, so we desperately need more urgent research done on this issue.
Kate67's picture

6 July 2008 - 2:55am — Kate67

Autism is a general term for quite a wide range of disorders called the Autistic Spectrum. My 14 year old has Aspergers Syndrome which is on the Autism Spectrum and his is at quite a low level compared to many I have met.

With Aspergers in particular much evidence exists that there could be an environmental influence in the development of the disorder. With Blair he developed normally until he was 18 months old ... and had his MMR immunisation.

I have since read quite a bit about the link between MMR and Aspergers and as a result my youngest did not get this immunisation until he was 11.

WARNING: Chocolate makes your clothes shrink!!!!
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