April is National Autism Awareness Month

April is National Autism Awareness Month

The appearance of autism may occur in infancy. However, in early childhood the characteristic behaviors become more apparent.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) lists several behaviors that your child's doctor should be looking for during routine well baby visits.

The five behaviors the doctor should evaluate are:

Is your baby cooing by 12 months?

Does your baby point, wave or grab by 12 months?

Can your baby say single words by 16 months?

Can your baby say two word phrases by 24 months?

Does your baby exhibit loss of language or social skill (at any age)?

While any of the above five behaviors does not indicate your child has autism, further evaluate may be wise.

Other indicators according to the NIH are:

No response to name

Poor eye contact

No smiling or social responses

According to the CDC (Center of Disease Control) about 1% of the world population has autism spectrum disorder and in the U.S. about 1 in 68 births have autism.

Please visit: www.autism-society.org

Or http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

Additionally,

The 46th ANNUAL AUTISM SOCIETY NATIONAL CONFERENCE will be held in Denver Colorado on July 8 – 11, 2015.