Question: My 2.5 year old son has delayed speech development, he usually speaks using one or two word sentences, and doesnt seem to have the same social interests as the other kids in his daycare.  He is happy and affectionate with me, I don’t think he has autism but other family members are concerned.  What should I be looking for as signs that he may have autism?

Marie S, Burlington

Answer:  As parents, we always want to reject that our loved child has a problem. But when it comes to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it is vital we recognize the early warning signs and initiate intervention during the pre-school years. Effective parenting strategies, psycho-educational intervention, and involvement of parents, are major factors to successfully overcoming difficulties.

So what is this eerie diagnosis? What should we monitor?

·We watch for 3 areas: inability to develop communication and social skills, lack of understanding spoken and unspoken language and behavioural challenges.

·If a child fails to create and maintain age appropriate social interactions; he socially doesn’t reciprocate and he appears aloof and not interested in social ways. Symptoms of the disorder always show up before age of three and we may not see them up to school age. When we are aware we may identify significant social impairment (through interactions with parents, grandparents, siblings or peers) at preschool age.

·A few children diagnosed with ASD have distinctive skills in certain areas (for instance in mathematics, arts and music) but we always see odd behavioural characteristics (repetitive and/or unusual behaviours) that vary in terms of degree and frequency (self-soothing, echoing, scripting, inappropriate use of toys, meaningless routines and actions).

·We might not notice children with High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome in a group unless we focus on behaviours and reciprocation. Children with Asperger’s Syndrome have broad language (no delays in language development) yet we have to notice they don’t use it functionally.