Autism comprises not one disorder, but a spectrum of disorders with a wide heterogeneity of features. As a result, diagnosing a toddler or even an older child with autism can be challenging, says Chris Plauché Johnson, MD, and his colleagues in a study published in the October 2007 of "Pediatrics."
The study also found that a typical autistic toddler has impaired social skills and delayed language development and is likely to engage in repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behavior. Other symptoms that an autistic child might display include sensitivity to light or sound and irregular sleep patterns.
Abnormal Social Development
One of the first things parents often notice is that their child doesn’t seem to be interested in interacting with anyone. In some cases, parents misread this behavior and interpret it as a positive sign, especially if their child never cries without reason or appears happy by herself. An autistic toddler rarely looks others in the eyes, and when someone is talking, she prefers to look at his mouth, according to a study conducted by Dr. Warren Jones and colleagues that was published in “Archives of General Psychiatry” in August 2008.
In their study, Dr. Plauché Johnson and his colleagues discussed autism and methods of communication, including joint attention development. Joint attention describes a child sharing his interest in something by pointing or looking at an object and then gazing at an adult repeatedly. The researchers reported that healthy children often engage in this type of behavior when they feel excitement or curiosity and noted that autistic children seem to lack this skill entirely or developed it much later than healthy children. They also drew attention to a lack of friends and feelings towards others in later life as defining characteristics of the condition.
Delayed Language Development
Lack of speech is considered a defining feature of autism, according to Dr. Plauché Johnson and colleagues, especially if it is associated with the lack of nonverbal gestures and an unwillingness to communicate. Some autistic patients do develop speech, however. Even in these cases, the language development is often delayed.
Moreover, autistic children that speak generally do so in an attempt to achieve something. Often, autistic children are simply repeating what other people have said in their presence before.
Repetitive Behavior
An autistic toddler can demonstrate a variety of behaviors that may seem odd. She might, for example, form an attachment with objects, but instead of selecting a doll or a teddy bear, she might show interest in items like flashlights or keys. An autistic child might also become obsessed with topics like dinosaurs, but unlike healthy children with such interests, her behavior might escalate to the point where she knows far more on the topic than her peers and devotes most of her time to her interest.
Partaking in self-injurious behavior, such as banging her head against a wall, is also a trait shared by many autistic children. This type of behavior is frequent after the child is upset, bored or depressed. Also, an autistic child can often perform such repetitive movements as flapping hands or rocking her body. These symptoms seem to be more common in younger children and become less frequent with age, according to Dr. Anna J. Esbensen and her colleagues in a study published in the “Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders” in January 2009. This study also found that young autistic children tend to want to preserve the environment in which they live. For example, an autistic toddler can become upset after something is changed in her diet, clothing or home. Older autistic patients, however, are generally more tolerant towards such changes.
References
- Pediatrics: Identification and Evaluation of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Archives of General Psychiatry: Absence of Preferential Looking to the Eyes of Approaching Adults Predicts Level of Social Disability in 2-Year-Old Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
- Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders: Age-related Differences in Restricted Repetitive Behaviors in Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Gene Reviews: Autism Spectrum Disorders
