Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by delays in reaching learning, cognitive, social, and emotional milestones. These developmental delays are usually recognized before the age of three. Although some children with autism reach their developmental milestones on time, most fail to develop some skills and behaviors. The early diagnosis and treatment of autism contribute a significant role in developing everyday learning, cognition, and social behavior.
The cases of autism are significantly increasing in the United States of America. Five out of every 1000 children have developmental delays related to autism. The prevalence of autism is more in first-degree relatives. Fifty percent of people with autism spend their whole life with mental retardation, while the other fifty percent have average or above-average intelligence. It is imperative to know the developmental delays associated with autism so parents can gauge their child's behavior and seek help timely and accordingly.
What are Developmental Milestones?
Parents should be alerted of the upcoming challenges - they would face with autistic children. The best way of doing this; is to counsel them about the delays in autism. To know the developmental delays, one should understand typical developmental milestones well. The age of achieving milestones can differ from child to child. Developmental milestones are separated into four groups: physical, emotional, cognitive, and language (Landa et al., 2012). Following are the milestones of a three-year-old child:
Physical Milestones
· A three-year-old child can move up and down stairs.
· You can play catch a ball. They can kick and throw the ball.
· Three-year-old can ride a bicycle and run more confidently.
· Can stand on one foot for up to 5 seconds.
· Collaborate and help in putting clothes on and off.
Emotional Milestones
· Can make friends and show affection for familiar playmates.
· They can make friends and have conflicts while playing with others.
· They can recognize a person as a boy and a girl but don't know the differences between genders.
Cognitive Milestones
· Follow the two to three steps instructions, like picking up the glass and closing the door or placing your teddy bear on your side table.
· Understand the concept of two. For example, they understand when they have two dolls rather than one.
· Can develop the world of imagination. For example, they can imagine living in a fairy world, having wings and magic sticks.
Language Milestones
· A three-year-old can speak and understand 2000 or more words and connect three words for sentence formation.
· Can ask multiple questions, including why, where, and when questions.
· Can identify different shapes, colors, and actions.
· Can answer when asked about their name.
Correlation Between Autism and Developmental Delays
People with autism have differences in the way their brain cells are connected. This affects the communication between different brain areas. As a result, the brain abnormally takes the sensory information, processes it differently, and responds in an altered way. Some studies suggest that the brain size of people with autism is increased. This increase in size is visible between the ages of 2 to 4 years. Moreover, the amygdala, an integral part of the brain in controlling emotions, also shows some distinction in people with autism (Meilleur et al., 2014).
The brain's white matter comprises nerve fibers coated with myelinated sheaths. These are responsible for information processing and integration. Children or people with autism have reduced white matter, which affects the brain's normal sensory and motor functions. Some studies show autism affects basal ganglia, alters the expected behavior of children, and limits their engagement in more varied activities.
Early Signs of Developmental Delay
In Children Ages 2 – 6 Months
It is usually difficult to diagnose young children because autism is visible between the age of 2 to 3 years. Every child is different; some show signs very early, while others show very late from the standard period. Some common signs a doctor or parent can notice in a child include the inability of the child to make eye contact, not following along with the moving objects, and limited facial expression. In addition to these signs, some other red flags are sensitivity to loud noises or being unresponsive to the surrounding sounds, poor speech development, and lack of the ability to recognize familiar faces (Madipakkam et al, 2017).
In Children Ages 6 – 9 months
Children of this age are developing milestones the same as the others. However, between 6 to 9 months, one can notice some difference and delay in development. These developmental delays are the inability to locate the origin of sound, limited facial expressions like smiling, and may not use many gestures.
In Children Ages 9 – 18 Months
This is a critical age to look for the signs and symptoms of autism. Children typically make eye contact with their parents if they want to tell them something, but autistic children will lack eye contact. If children of this age do not show attachment to familiar faces and danger from unfamiliar faces, this is a sign of autism. 12 – 14 months is when children use movements or gestures to communicate, like pointing, waving, blowing a kiss, or clapping. If a child lacks these gestures by age 18 or has limited gestures, this is a point of concern (Center for disease control and prevention, 2023).
The autistic child will lack "pretend play" by 16 months. Normal children by this age can pretend to fly like Superman, eat with a spoon without any food on the plate, and pretend to ride on a motorcycle. Moreover, stereotyped behavior is widespread in autism. Stereotyped children have a less functional way of interacting with people and objects. Signs of this behavior include spinning things, toe walking, sniffing, hand flapping, and unusual movements of figures.
In children ages 18 – 24 months
At this age, the child with autism will stop acquiring developmental milestones or start losing the ones learned before. For example, the child will be unable to say mama and dada while he is saying these words before. Autism child will not be able to communicate with others vocally. The child will not make any attempt to speak or babble. The children also lose some skills like climbing the furniture, eating alone, imitating actions, and following one-step directions. Autism children have no emotions for others. A baby crying or parents smiling will not affect him (Shen et al., 2017).
Conclusion
The realms of development affected by autism are language, emotion, cognition, and movement. This is because of the adverse effects of autism on the white matter of the brain and other parts like the cerebellum, amygdala, and basal ganglia. The earlier the diagnosis of autism is made, the better for a child to get timely treatment and cope with developmental delays.
References
Shen, M. D., & Piven, J. (2017). Brain and behavior development in autism from birth through infancy. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(4), 325–333. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2017.19.4/mshen
Signs & Symptoms | Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) | NCBDDD | CDC. (2023, January 11). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/signs.html
Madipakkam, A. R., Rothkirch, M., Dziobek, I., & Sterzer, P. (2017). Unconscious avoidance of eye contact in autism spectrum disorder. Scientific Reports, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13945-5
Meilleur, A. S., Jelenic, P., & Mottron, L. (2014). Prevalence of clinically and empirically defined talents and strengths in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(5), 1354–1367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2296-2
Landa, R., Gross, A. L., Stuart, E. A., & Faherty, A. (2012). Developmental trajectories in children with and without autism spectrum disorders: the first 3 years. Child Development, 84(2), 429–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01870.x