You know the saying, if you see something, say or do something? This applies with children.
If you have any kind of suspicion, ACT. Intervening early will be the best gift you give a child
who is showing any signs of delays.

For me, I was able to notice the signs right away, especially because my daughter was doing certain things and then she stopped.

Yes, every child is different. Noticing the differences in your children however does not mean
you are comparing them. It is a way of helping you the parent know how to raise each child
effectively.

The Signs
1. Not responding to her name being called – I would call my daughter’s name multiple times and she
would not respond. Most of the time, she seemed completely zoned out.

2. Not acknowledging us – Many a times, it just felt like she was in her own world and did not
even notice we were around. She wanted to play by herself most of the time.

3. Unable to play functionally with toys – As much as she wanted to play by herself, we noticed
she was unable to functionally play with toys. For example, the first time I handed her a baby
doll, I expected her to hug the baby, talk to it, comb it’s her or pat the baby back. Instead, she
would hit the baby against the wall and/or throw it away.

4. Lining up toys – We noticed she would line up her toys and lay on the floor next to them. She would
stare at the toys from the side of her eye. Very repetitive in her ways.

5. Losing words, no functional language – The biggest thing I noticed was she had lost words she
used to know how to say. Words like Mama, Dada etc. She was also not learning any new words
because of her lack of focus.

6. Lack of Focus – We could not get her to sit long enough to do anything productive. And you know what they say about the brain, the more you feed it, the smarter it gets. Due to the lack of focus, simply things like reading, arts and craft, drawing where not so simple for her.

7. Tantruming – Because she was unable to fully communicate her needs due to the lose of words, she started throwing a lot of tantrums. Sometimes it was for no reason in our opinion. It was hard to help her as we could not figure out what was wrong. It almost felt like the new-born
stage again.

8. Tip-Toeing & Spinning Around – My daughter would tip-toe and spin around a lot. She would
get dizzy and still keep spinning.

Please note that these signs may not necessarily mean your child has Autism. These signs
however, cannot be ignored in the name of every child is different.

Your child may need early intervention and you want to make sure you are not the bottleneck in finding them the help that will possibly put them back on the right course to learning and developing.