Seeking Answers?  Table of Contents

Worried About Your Baby's Development? The Earliest Signs     Is My Child a Late Talk or Is It a Bigger Problem?     Autism in Plain English: The DSM-IV-TR Criteria for Autism     Medical Tools: Looking for Autism Information: Search Here     Decoding Autism: An Interactive Timeline

The Earliest Signs of Autism: When to Worry
By 6 months*	By 14 months	By 24 months
No eye contact with parents No cooing or babbling No vocal turn-taking (baby   makes a sound, adult makes   a sound) Not responding to peekaboo No smiling when parent   smiles
	No single words or attempt to   say a consonant and vowel to   form a word Not pointing or waving No response when name is   called Indifferent to others Repetitive behaviors: moving   car back and forth, persistent   rocking, frequent hand   flapping Fixation on a single object Oversensitivity to textures,   smells, sounds Strong resistance to change in   routine Any loss of language or social   skill
		Does not initiate 2-word   phrases (a noun and verb) Imitation does not develop No pretend play No interest in peers
ANY LOSS OF LANGUAGE OR SKILL AT ANY AGE
Source: Rebecca Landa, PhD, Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore. *Skills are cumulative, meaning if 6-month skills are not present by 14 months, it still is a cause for concern.

The Early Intervention Network has created a poster on these red flags. Please visit our store on CafePress at www.cafepress.com/actearly and click Red Flags of Autism under Browse Designs. The poster does not look like the above chart.