How To Identify Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Detailed Guide To Its Early Symptoms

Introduction to ASD

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a disability related to brain development that impacts a person’s social interactive skills. People with ASD can have persistent issues with social communication and social interaction in day-to-day life. ASD can even cause multiple and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests and regular activities. The term “Spectrum” in ASD is used to represent the varied range of symptoms and level of severity observed in different individuals. 

A national guideline was released for the diagnosis and assessment of the early symptoms of ASD in 2018 by the Autism CRC to help understand the behavioural changes observed in autistic patients. 

Various measures may set people with ASD apart from most other normal people such as behaviour, sensory issues, interactive skills, and learning abilities. Even though there can be no visual difference in looks, people with ASD can have limited or variable abilities. For example, they might exhibit an abnormal social approach and fail to participate in general conversations. 

Let’s go through some of the general deficits that are common in ASD patients:

•  Inability to express or understand emotions, interests and feelings
• Abnormal body language including eye contact and facial expressions
• Restricted and/or fixed interests with a lack of focus on a particular task. 
• Delayed or unresponsive or excessive reactions to a sensory environment such as a change in temperature, excessive smell or intense light or food texture or clothing. 

Children often show early symptoms of Autism under the age of one. Due to the wide range of symptoms and heterogeneous presentation, determining the early signs of ASD can be difficult. Therefore, child autism therapy must be a serious consideration for parents and guardians of children with autism. It is also important to note that autism & auditory processing disorder go hand in hand. 

Which means that sometimes in the case of autism & auditory processing disorder, a child may have both. In other cases, it might be confusing to diagnose on our own if the child has autism or auditory processing disorder as both have similar symptoms.  In this article, we’ll cover some early signs of ASD divided based on age and how they can vary by gender. 

Early Signs: When do they appear? 

Various studies have been performed to verify when the early signs of ASD appear. It has been found that it was difficult to identify early signs in the case of infants who are 6 months old. Therefore, autism in children is more common than previously thought. When the infants reach up to 12 months, it gets comparatively easier to figure out any behaviour abnormalities in them. Thus, in this case it is easier to identify the early signs of ASD to avail the benefits of child autism therapy early on.

General Indications: What to look out for?

Several signs can be considered an indication of ASD and they can vary based on the age range of children. This helps in planning sooner on which approach to take on the matter of  child autism therapy as there are many options but only a few would be well-suited for your child. 

The general indications to look out for are: 

• Social Interaction Issues: Problems related to social interaction are one of the major indications of autism in children.  For example, a limited understanding of parents’ expressions or functional play activities can be a sign of ASD.  

In case a child is suffering from ASD, he/she might have limited social interactive abilities. These include smiling, reacting to sounds or objects, and responding to their name which are highly interactive activities in the case of normally developing children. 

• Lack of Visual Attention: Autism in children can cause an inability to maintain eye contact or pay visual attention related to any socially interactive activity. This means that their visual learning is limited and can even have a negative impact on the development of the child’s early communication skills.

In a situation where an examiner is giving instructions while a toy is placed in front of children diagnosed with ASD, they tend to stare at the toy a lot more than pay attention to the instructor. The situation is the opposite in the case of naturally developing children. 

• Limited and Repetitive Behaviours: There may be signs of repetitive behaviour in a child diagnosed with ASD. Hand flapping, looking through the corner of the eyes and being engaged in loud vocalisations are some of the examples.

Limited behaviours may also be a sign of ASD such as not adapting to changes in routine, taking over an interest in a particular topic (like trains, cars, dinosaurs or other animals) , and over-attachment with selective items or activities. 

Age-Based ASD Symptoms

The signs of ASD may vary based on the age range of children. In the case of infants below the age of 6 months, it becomes challenging to diagnose ASD. 

The research published in the Journal of Paediatric Nursing on “Developmental Surveillance of Infants and Toddlers by Maternal and Child Health Nurses in an Australian Community” was performed to identify behavioural changes in infants in Australia. Based on the studies, a checklist for atypical behaviours based on the age of infants was created. 

Here’s a guide on the signs you might notice when identifying ASD symptoms for children of different age ranges. 

ASD Symptoms Up To 6 Months Old:

At such an early age, it becomes very difficult to notice signs of ASD. Though there are no direct signs of ASD to notice, some abnormal developments can lead to ASD in children below 6 months.  

Such abnormal developments are: 

• Low muscle tone causes problems in early movements such as rolling over
• Unresponsive behaviour to people or things (not smiling towards parents or getting excited over a toy)
• Regular issues falling asleep 
• Lack of visual focus 
• Low mood leading to excessive crying
• Often children with ASD will be placid and quiet babies in terms of lack of communication sometimes viewed as the “perfect baby”. 

ASD Symptoms Between 6-12 Months: 

Early signs of ASD that can be observed in children between 6-12 months include:

• Over excitement at unexpected situations
• Lack of interest in socialising with other people
• Avoiding direct eye-contact
• Noticeable repetitive behaviours like flapping of hands and spinning
• Not responding to his/her name

Early diagnosis of ASD can prove to be highly beneficial as it allows early-stage intervention services for children. The early-stage behavioural intervention has a higher chance of leading to positive results. 

Gender-based ASD Symptoms

Just as ASD symptoms vary based on age range, there’s a possibility of a different range of symptoms for boys and girls. Some studies based on symptom variation based on gender have highlighted some key differences. 

• Girls tend to hide their symptoms by staying in contact with other children and avoiding isolation.
• Boys often prefer to play alone, making the ASD diagnosis easier
• Repetitive behaviour symptoms can be higher in the case of boys
• Emotional and mood changes might be observed more in girls

These symptoms might vary based on age and can’t be considered to be highly precise. However, looking out for these signs and behavioural changes based on gender might also help in the earlier diagnosis of ASD. 

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Benefits of Tomatis® Method 

Over the years, Autism Spectrum Disorder has been one of the most common developmental disorders growing rapidly in Australia, Europe, and the U.S and around the world. ASD highly affects how a person can respond to their surrounding environment and deal with socially interactive situations. Being a life-long medical condition, people with ASD can have major impacts on their behavioural and emotional abilities.

ASD tends to cause difficulties in performing some of the major functions including social interaction, general behaviour, responsive actions and communication. The Tomatis® Method offers auditory and listening training that can awaken the desire of people with ASD to communicate and learn as well and decrease some of their sensitivities. 

How does it work? 

The Tomatis® Method involves the process of stimulating the brain through retraining the ear and re-patterning the nervous system. For retraining the ear, a person is allowed to listen to music (usually the Mozart and Gregorian chants) that involves filters or sound contrasts proven to deliver high and low frequencies to the brain. 

Sound travels through air and bone conduction, reaching the inner ear. In the case of air conduction, sound travels from the outer ear to the middle ear, changing to bone conduction before it is sent to the inner ear. Bone conduction differs as the sound travels through the skull passing directly to the inner ear and skipping through the middle ear. 

The sound contrasts aim to enable the ear-brain connections that can enable  assist a person to adjust to the surrounding environment based on the information received. These filters help the brain in detecting the constant changes occurring around. Constant treatment of the neurosensory treatment offered by the Tomatis® Method impacts attention mechanisms that highly contribute to improved perception in a person diagnosed with ASD so expressive and receptive abilities can be enhanced..    

How to deal with ASD behaviour? 

It can be challenging to deal with common ASD behaviour if you don’t have a clear understanding of the issues faced by the person with ASD.

Let’s take you through some effective strategies that can help you ideally deal with some commonly observed ASD symptoms:

• • Lack of eye contact: Studies reveal that for people with autism, direct eye contact can cause stress and they fail to even focus on what you’re speaking. It’s important to consider these factors while interacting with them.
  •  Triggered by the use of “No”: An autistic child might respond negatively if you directly use “No” to anything they like or want to do. Instead of that, try to explain to them the reason for your denial without emphasising the use of “No” directly
• Lack of empathy in some situations: Autistic people can behave aggressively even with their loved ones if they feel uncomfortable. Hence, it is important to focus on improving their quality of life through healthy routines. 

Get Started with The Tomatis® Method, today!

The Tomatis® Method can surely benefit you or your loved one going through Autism Spectrum Disorder! We offer spectrum assessments and professional guidance by our autism specialists in Sydney. The specialists will analyse all the difficulties faced by your loved one to suggest services and support based on the retrieved information. Visit Tomatis® Australia’s website and get in touch with the Tomatis® professionals to know more!