Unusual play may be harbinger of autism
Categories: Newborns, Babies, Development, Special needs
Children diagnosed with autism, researchers have found, tend to play with toys differently as babies, rotating or spinning them, staring at them intently, or looking at them out of the corner of their eye. The study comes from the University of California Davis where lead researcher Dr. Sally Ozonoff noted that "there is an urgent need to develop measures that can pick up early signs of autism, signs present before 24 months."The study involved sixty-six children considered at risk for autism primarily due to having a sibling with autism. Of these, nine went on to be diagnosed with autism and seven of them had spent significantly more time spinning, rotating and looking sideways at their toys than the other children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in one hundred fifty children have autism and related disorders.
Doctor Ozonoff also said that parents can keep watch for this behaviour and it could easily be checked during a visit with the pediatrician. "The earlier you treat a child for autism, the more of an impact you can have on that child's future," she noted. I'd say anything that helps diagnose autism early on is a good thing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pbhj 11-08-2008 @ 7:50PM
So look out for "significantly more spinning [of toys]"? No! They saying that it may be an indicator in addition to the standard observations:
>>> "[...] social-communicative behaviors like responding to name, making eye contact and word learning [which] accurately distinguish children developing autism from children who are developing as expected. "
I'd be interested to know how, when they label the kid as autistic at 1 (instead of at 3) they then treat that child differently?
Also how do they grade a 9month old on whether they are using a toy strangely. Is it when they don't attempt to eat it ???
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pbhj 11-08-2008 @ 7:51PM
forgot, better source : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/128554.php
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Baldy 11-10-2008 @ 1:48AM
While I recognize that there are different degrees of autism, and that some types can be quite crippling, I just wanted to remind people that some types of high-functioning autism (specifically "Asperger's Syndrome") are not necessarily something to be treated at all. Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein are suspected of being Aspies, as are many other people who have affected the world for the better in many ways. In fact, I suspect that the rise in the rates of autism may be due to natural selection, because a number of "autistic" traits are beneficial. In view of this, autistic children (especially Aspies) may require extra instruction in how to get along with "normal" people, but this does not mean that the Aspies have the problem. From what I've seen, "normal" people have as many or more social problems than Aspies - they just don't recognize them as such because they are in the majority, and that's how "everyone" is supposed to be. In fact, this lack of tolerance for others may be the greatest social problem that cognitive-normals have.
Also, don't presume that Aspies aren't interested in people. They may not be interested in people with the same urgency or in the same way as normals, and they may especially not be interested in the same people that others are interested in, but that doesn't mean they aren't interested in people.
My own background, as some may be wondering, is about halfway between cognitive-normal and Aspie, though if I had taken the tests at a younger age it would have been much closer to Aspie.
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