Autism is a spectrum disorder and is seen differently in each person. A few common themes of autism patients’ include communication and social skills problems. Autism is a spectrum disorder because of the varying levels from mild to severe problems.
Children can start showing signs and symptoms of this disorder at a very young age. A few of the symptoms that appear in children from the video listed below include:
- Hand clapping
- Frequently walking on tiptoes
- Repetitive head banging
- Consistent fussiness or screaming in public places
- Pouring drinks back and forth
- Excessive biting or aggressiveness
- Lacks response to voice/verbal commands
- Avoids eye contact
- Lack of speech and communication
- Problems with food/textures/clothing
It is key to notice the consistency and frequency of these behaviors. Children who have autism may exert these symptoms for an hour or for just 5 minutes. Your child may also have some of these symptoms listed above, but children may grow out of these habits by age 3 and could be part of their developmental process.
The sooner you get your child help, the better off they will be to adapting to certain situations in society. We have a Speech and Language Pathologist here at Windom Area Health Rehabilitation who will test social and communication skills in your child. Speech and Language Pathologists also help your child to learn and improve upon these social and communicative skills. For further information, call us at 507-831-0634 to talk with our Speech and Language Pathologist.
Blog Written By: Joann Anderson, Speech and Language Pathologist