What are the early red flags for Autism by 12 months of age? - Ms. Anupama Maruvada

The early red flag for autism by as early as 12 months of age are as follows. No babbling, not pointing at things. That is usually whatever they want, they usually point with their pointer finger to show people what they want. Not showing objects to their care givers. Usually children with autistic traits, they tend to pull an adult and they tend to pull their hand and try to show with their hand what they want. Lack of gestures like waving or nodding or shaking the head, especially nodding for a “no”. Lacks of shared enjoyment. When they like something, all children, they tend to call up and adult’s attention and show what they are really enjoying. Typically in autistic children we do not see the repetitive actions and movements, poor eye contact, very brief eye contact or poor eye contact, not following adults pointed finger. The response may be crisp whenever it is need based. Otherwise they will not follow the pointed finger. Paying attention to objects than to people. If they see that the child is reading ”A,B,C,D” everywhere they see or reading 1,2,3,4, everywhere they see. But this is not a very happy sign as children. That is toddlers of 12 to 13 months will not be playing attention to alphabets and numbers. He will be paying attention to people, their emotions, their expression, what they are talking, their lip movements. If that is not seen, then definitely it is a red flag. Limited play with toys, usually you see these children play repeatedly with the same toy again and again or they may not be playing with the whole toy, but they may be focusing on the parts of the toy, like a wheel in a car or any spinning object, or when they are building some certain way, they would repeat the same building pattern again and again or not copying actions or sounds. Like if you want them to clap or if the cow says moo, then they may require repeated prompts or sometimes they may even ignore the prompts. He may not repeat. Not responding to his or her name when called. But when you include the name which is a need based, they immediately turnaround. When you find any of these red flags, do not ignore. Take it as an alarm. Take the child to a developmental psychologist or a child behavior therapist to get assessed and then start the treatment. Autism is not curable. But it is treatable. The earlier, the better. So it is very important for you to identify these red flags early and then go for treatment from these specialists. These children also have future and they can also be successful like all the other kids. Digital consultation has become the new norm for mental health issues and other treatments. CBT2 provides online services for Consultation, Assessment and Treatment that offers comprehensive child & adult behavior therapy services to all cities in India and globally. Feel free to contact us for ONLINE Consultation @ +91 91488 40850 (or) IN PERSON @ CBT 2 T.J tower, 3rd floor , 3A Puttenahalli road, J.P Nagar 7th phase Bangalore, 560018. https://www.cbt2online.com/