What Are Some Autistic-Like Behaviors That Might NOT Be Cause For Concern In Young Children?

Oct. 23, 2008 -- Question: What are some autistic-like behaviors that might NOT be cause for concern in young children?

Answer: I don't really like that question because it could lead to false reassurance and have people ignoring symptoms that maybe should be inquired into. One of the problems with autism early detection and treatment is that often the symptoms are ignored for quite a while before the diagnosis is finally made.

The kinds of things that parents should discuss with their pediatrician or other professional psychiatrist or psychologist, if they notice them, are: peculiarities of language development, not just the funny grammatical convolutions that young children will make in the process of learning the rules, but things like reversing pronouns persistently or saying things in a rote fashion or losing language -- after learning some words, then losing what they have learned; (and) things like not making eye contact, not being very frank in facial expression, not responding to overtures from people they meet.