Looking for Autism

Autism isn’t exactly something parents want to find in their child, so it’s understandable that parents might feel uneasy about looking for it. But looking for autism is important — and something that has become part of routine pediatric care. Currently, one out of every 68 children has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. That means autism is really common. And — this is what’s really important — getting help early makes all the difference. At every single visit in the early years, pediatricians carefully follow the development of children. We ask about how they are learning to move and use their hands and walk and talk and play. We aren’t looking just for autism, of course; there are many reasons why some children may have delays or problems with their development, and we want to catch all of them. When we see that a child is late to talk, or doesn’t relate to other people or play in ways we might normally expect for his or her age, we do think about autism. Many practices give parents questionnaires to fill out that ask about symptoms of autism. This allows us to get more detailed information than we might get just from talking to parents. The good news is that most children don’t have autism. Being a bit late to talk, or being shy, or just being quirky are all more common than autism. But getting help early can make a difference no matter what is going on, so whenever we see something that concerns us, we want to take a closer look. There are a ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Children's Health autism Source Type: news