The characteristics of autism are known today, although the disability itself remains a mystery to scientific experts. Indeed, specialists have highlighted certain signs that are present in this Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD).
0 to 6 months
- no social smile (3 months)
- indifference to sounds
- gaze abnormalities: avoidance, transience, vague gaze
- postural adjustment defect: soft baby, stiff baby
From 6 to 12 months:
- disinterest in people and things
- does not respond to his first name
- aversion to physical contact
- absence of happy reactions to the arrival of parents
- attention difficult to fix, gaze difficult to capture
- no anticipatory gesture: do not stretch out your arms when you go to look for it
- no babbling
- heightened sensitivity to changes in the environment
From 12 to 24 months:
- don’t point your finger
- no object presentation
- seems to ignore others
- prefer solitude
- impassivity in the face of attempts to communicate with the child
- game anomaly: no pretending
- limited language, without attempting to communicate by mimicry or gesture (for example: refusal to greet)
- strange handling of objects
- unusual body movements (for example: swings, rapid throbbing or twisting of the hands, banging of the head or contortions of the whole body)
After 24 months:
- lack of interest in other children
- self or hetero aggression without apparent cause
- no 2 word sentence
- language the purpose of which is not to communicate (the child cannot resort to language to ask for something)
- tendency of the child to repeat what is said to him
- unusual way of speaking (dull voice, arrhythmic, shrill, singing …)
- signs to be interpreted with caution
- persistent concern with parts of objects
- attachment to unusual objects
- strong grief at the change of insignificant elements of the environment
- unreasonable insistence on pursuing routine acts strictly and in detail
These signs should attract the attention of parents. That’s not a complete autism diagnosis. In other words, while some children have one or more of the traits shown below, they are not necessarily autistic. It is only a specialist in early childhood and a psychiatrist trained in particular in autism who can precisely determine the diagnosis. In any case, if you find that your child’s behavior is worrying, do not hesitate to consult. Not because the problem is necessarily serious, but because you need help with this anxiety.
Source: French Federation of Psychiatry