About early signs of autism
Some early signs of autism usually appear in the first 1-2 years of life.
Early signs of autism are listed below. Some children have many early signs, whereas others have only a few. The number of signs autistic children have varies according to their age and the effect that autism has on their everyday lives.
Sometimes early signs of autism change over time. For example, children might lose or stop using social-communication or language skills, or signs might become clearer as children get older.
Communication: early signs of autism
In the first year of life, children’s social and communication development is an important area to watch for early signs of autism. Social and communication development includes things like learning to smile, make eye contact, and use gestures.
Social interaction and communication
If young children are autistic, they might:
- not consistently use eye contact to get someone’s attention – for example, they might not always look at you and then at a snack to show you they want it, or not look back towards you when they see something that excites them
- rarely point to or hold up objects to show you things – for example, they might not point to a dog and look back at you to make sure you’ve seen it too, or they might drop a toy in your lap and walk away instead of holding it up and looking at you
- not consistently respond to their name being called
- not consistently use gestures on their own – for example, they might not wave bye-bye or clap without being told to, or without copying someone else who’s waving or clapping
- not consistently smile at you or other familiar people without you smiling at them first
- rarely copy other people’s actions, like combing their hair when you do it
- not sound like they’re having a conversation with you when they babble
- not understand simple, one-step instructions – for example, ‘Give me the block’ or ‘Show me the dog’.
Relationships and play
If young children are autistic, they might:
- rarely show interest in other children– for example, they might not look towards them or try to get their attention
- rarely start games like peekaboo or round the garden
- rarely do pretend play – for example, they might not pretend to feed a teddy bear.
Behaviour: early signs of autism
Repetitive and restricted interests
If young children are autistic, they might:
- have an intense interest in certain objects and get ‘stuck’ on particular toys or objects – for example, they’ll flick the light switch off and on repeatedly, or play only with cars or dolls
- interact with toys and objects in limited ways – for example, they might mainly spin the wheels of a toy car rather than pretending to drive the car along the floor, or take the clothes on and off a doll repeatedly
- be very interested in certain objects or activities and get upset if they can’t do that activity – for example, watching the same TV show over and over
- focus narrowly on objects and activities, like lining up objects or putting toys into a pile.
Routines
If young children are autistic, they might be easily upset by change and need to follow routines. For example, they might need to follow the same route to child care or a grandparent’s house every time.
Repetitive movements
If young children are autistic, they might repeat body movements or have unusual body movements, like back-arching, hand-flapping, arm-stiffening and walking on the tips of their toes.
Sensory sensitivities
If young children are autistic, they might:
- be extremely sensitive to sensory experiences – for example, they might get easily upset by certain sounds like the vacuum cleaner, or will eat only foods with certain textures or colours
- seek sensations – for example, they might rub objects on their lips or faces, or seek vibrating objects like washing machines, or flutter their fingers to the sides of their eyes to watch the light flicker.
If you’d like to check your child’s behaviour and development for early signs of autism, you can download ASDetect – a free, evidence-based, app developed by La Trobe University and suitable for use with children aged 11-30 months.