Early Warning Signs Your Child May Have Autism
Behavior characteristics of autism are important to be knowledgeable about and watching for as your child is developing. The sooner you are aware they are displaying behavior characteristics of autism the better chance you have of minimizing the severity of their diagnosis.
Behavior Characteristic of Autism #1:
- Smiling, or lack thereof.
- A baby should smile at the sound of your voice by the end of 2 months.
- A baby should smile at people by the end of 3 months.
- If your child is not smiling at you or at other people by the end of these developmental milestones you need to enquire about this. Children diagnosed with autism often do not respond to family and seem very distant and unresponsive and unemotional.
Behavior Characteristic of Autism #2:
- Lack of Attention to People or Objects
By the end of 4 months a baby should be:
- Following and reacting to bright colors, movements, and objects.
- Turning towards sounds.
- Showing interest in watching people’s faces.
By the end of 6 months your child should be:
- relating to you with joy.
- crying when unhappy.
- cooing and babbling when happy.
Part of the behavior characteristics of autism is that they seem very distant and not reactive to objects and people. Also, due to sensory issues as being one of the major behavior characteristics of autism you will find that they may not respond to sound or pain in the same way. This may mean that the child will not cry after falling down and hurting themselves because they interpreted that stimuli differently.
If your child is not reaching any of these milestones you should be concerned that they could be displaying behavior characteristics of autism. It is not to be alarmed but you should be getting professional opinions as waiting it out may mean valuable treatment time has been lost. The second you suspect your child of displaying behavior characteristics of autism you need to talk to someone so that a treatment plan can be developed.
There are many more developmental milestones out there and you should review them. These are the basic ones that would give you an indication if your child was displaying the behavior characteristics of autism.