Early Symptoms of Autistic Children and Its Diagnostic Significance

Abstract

In order to make a checklist for the early diagnosis of autism, the abnormalities of mental development before the age of two were examined retrospectively in autistic children. Additionally, the correlation between these early symptoms and the prognosis of autistic children were investigated. The subjects were 85 autistic children, 64 mentally retarded children and 150 normal children. The parents of these children were interviewed by child psychiatrists based on original questionnaires. The 27 early symptoms indicating disorders in personal relations, perception and sleeping as well as the setback course were found in autistic children. The onset ages of imitating others, pointing at objects and saying Yes were retarded in the poorly developed group as compared with the highly developed group.

Studying the Emergence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in High-risk Infants: Methodological and Practical Issues

“…Investigators report a wide range of symptoms that are more common in children with autism under the age of 24 months than similar-aged children with developmental delays or mental retardation (DD). Early symptoms associated with autism cross several developmental domains, including social behavior (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;De Giacomo & Fombonne, 1998;Hoshino et al, 1982;Ohta et al, 1987;Young, Brewer, & Pattison, 2003), communication (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;De Giacomo & Fombonne, 1998;Ohta et al, 1987;Young et al, 2003), affective expression (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;De Giacomo & Fombonne, 1998;Hoshino et al, 1982), and sensory hypo-and hypersensitivities (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;De Giacomo & Fombonne, 1998;Hoshino et al, 1982). These findings have been very important in guiding further research aimed at identifying early signs of ASD.…”

On Intersubjective Engagement in Autism: A Controlled Study of Nonverbal Aspects of Conversation

“…If one considers this aspect of autism in developmental perspective, there is evidence from videotape studies (e.g., Adrien et al, 1992;Eriksson & de Chateau, 1992;Osterling & Dawson, 1994;Baranek, 1999) and direct observations of infants (Charman et al, 1997), as well as from retrospective parental reports (e.g., Wing, 1969;Hoshino et al, 1982;Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;Stone & Hogan, 1993;Vostanis et al, 1998;Wimpory, Hobson, Williams, & Nash, 2000), that even very young children with autism have characteristic impairments in nonverbal communication of a kind that might reflect and/or lead to disruption in intersubjective engagement. For example, Wimpory et al (2000) devised a semi-structured interview which was administered to mothers of matched 2-3-year-old children with and without autism.…”

Auditory Characteristics of Children with Autism

“…Hypersensitivity to noises has been reported by 32 to 81% of parents of children with autism (Hoshino et al, 1982;Ohta, Nagai, Hara, & Sasaki, 1987;Ornitz et al, 1978;Veale, 1994;Volkmar et al, 1986). Hypersensitivity is reported more frequently for children with autism than for children with mental retardation and typically developing children (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;Hoshino et al, 1982;Ohta et al, 1987).…”

“…Children with autism have been reported to demonstrate more abnormal responses to noises (e.g., demonstrations of fascination or distress) relative to children with mental retardation, typically developing children, and children with expressive aphasia (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;Wing, 1969). Hypersensitivity to noises has been reported by 32 to 81% of parents of children with autism (Hoshino et al, 1982;Ohta, Nagai, Hara, & Sasaki, 1987;Ornitz et al, 1978;Veale, 1994;Volkmar et al, 1986). Hypersensitivity is reported more frequently for children with autism than for children with mental retardation and typically developing children (Dahlgren & Gillberg, 1989;Hoshino et al, 1982;Ohta et al, 1987).…”