My brother has a son who has a minor form of autism, but still, he has it. As such, I have been very much holding on putting this article together as people are highly sensitive to this disease.
I also do not like the word ‘disease’ to quantify someone that has autism. It is more of a disorder or syndrome than a disease or sickness.
I asked my brother about me writing a small piece about autism. I was surprised about his reaction. He was very happy and supportive. The reason?
He did not know what his son has and he wished he could have read about it earlier. If he would have, then he would have been able to get help and provide the most appropriate for his.
Therefore, this article is dedicated to my nephew who I dearly love.
How to detect early signs of autism
It is a difficult question to answer and I shall not aim to do so. However, what you need to be aware of is that each person, each child shows different signs of autism differently.
Nevertheless, most of the symptoms for autistic children can fit into 4 main categories. Below I explain each category to help you identify the signs and take appropriate action. Below is a video from a boy with autism explaining what is like to be having this syndrome.
1- Difficulty in communicating with others
You can identify this in a many different ways. One of the most frequent ways is when your child is not able to have full conversations.
In this case, your child may decide to use hand gestures instead of words. This is a clear sign of autism. You may find the following communication signs of autism of interest:
- There are times that your child will not speak and he may not reach any of the standard language milestones. Check with a professional if this is the case
- When a child speak with frequent rhyming and this rhyming does not make any sense to you, then it is almost guaranteed that your child has autism
- A lot of individuals with autism like to repeat sounds. They also like to repeat some words, or phrases, especially the ones that they heard from a TV show or read a book
- At times, a child with autism will not speak about himself with the ‘I’ but more calling himself as a ‘you’
- They at times try to avoid a subject of a conversation by not focusing on the part you are referring to. For instance, if you speak about a spoon, your child may avoid looking at the spoon on purpose. If this is repetitive, then your child could have autism.
2- Difficulty interacting socially
I have to say that this could be the easiest way to identify if your child is a victim of autism. In essence, a large percentage of children with autism have unsocial behavior.
In fact, they try to avoid all type of social interaction with strangers. Here is a list of things you need to watch for:
- If your child aim to isolate himself from the crowd or friends
- Under most conditions, if he shows no signs of sympathy or empathy for others, then he may be a victim of autism
- When you want your child to play and he prefers to play on his own instead of with other young children of his age, then there is a need for you to get professional advice right away
- Every child should be able to make friends easily. If your child has difficulty in doing so, then he may be a victim of autism
- Children are really good at eye contact. If your child does not do this, it may be because he is affected by the syndrome
- Not reacting to smiling advances from others or friendly discussions is a strong sign
3- Sensitivity to sensory stimulation
Some children which have autism may display some very unusual reactions when you stimulate them.
For instance, they can overreact where there is no need for that, or under react when you should expect a strong reaction. Below I summarize a couple of the symptoms related to the child senses:
- The extreme tolerance for pain or your child may have a very tolerance for pain
- Either your child is highly sensitive or displays an unusually low sensitivity to taste. He may also display extreme sensitivity to sounds, smells, sights and touch sense.
- One of the most common symptoms of autism is the unusual responses to regular noises. Even when these sounds are not really loud), your child may cover his ears and start mentioning that the sounds are too loud and hurt him
- Your child may have no real interest in interacting with you such as giving hugs or other forms of kindness and love towards the parents and brothers or sisters.
- Weird way of interacting with common objects — For instance, your child may decide to taste, touch, and/or smell an object to investigate its properties
4- Behavioral problems
This is very common and I think most of us relate to autism through behavioral problems. These include:
- Autistic behavior englobes aggressivity towards others
- There are signs that cannot be ignored such as repetitive motions. Think of twirling or rocking, then your child may have autism
- High interest in a small number of games and only a few restrained number of activities
- Try to resist any change and experience new type of activities
- Not able to concentrate and paying attention to the surrounding
- You child can show signs of withdrawing from others, being extremely quiet and isolate himself, or quite the opposite where they display signs of being highly active
- Your child keep acting with tantrums
What can you do about autism?
What you should be doing if you notice any of the above signs is to get professional advice.
Do not panic, just speak it through with a professional. If you are unsure, then seek a second professional advice.
What you need to know is that there is no treatment for autism at this time. However, detecting early the symptoms can help your child.
With some help from experts, your child could learn how to live a relatively successful life. The sooner you detect the syndrome, the better for your child.
Conclusion
It is important that you know about autism. You need to remember that the number of cases is increasing from between 10 to 17 percent each year.
As we are currently not able to effectively detect autism, then experts rely on parents and friends to identify this syndrome.
As such, and with the above 4 main categories and methods, you should be able to tell if your child falls in the autism group. If so, try to help your child journey in living a successful life by gaining the support from an expert.
You’ll be glad when you’ll see your child feeling good and being happy. There is nothing wrong in being autistic, but there is everything wrong in denying it!
Back to you
I truly hope you that I have managed to transfer some of my lessons about autism to you. Please do not forget to take action and like the post. Share it with your friends and families and please leave a comment below.
See you soon in another Omigy post.