This Monday April 2, 2018 is World Autism Awareness Day. In France, experts estimate that 650,000 people suffer from Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD): boys are about 3 times more affected than girls.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects different areas of development in children: language, sociability, motor and sensory development … At present, in France, autism is detected in children between the ages of 3 and 5 years – too late, say specialists from the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS).
In reality, it is now possible to screen for autism from the age of 18 months: a diagnosis which, however, comes up against inequalities in access to care in the territory and a lack of visibility for families, which do not always know who to contact …
Autism in children: signals can alert parents
In addition, the diagnosis of autism remains difficult to establish, especially during early childhood: ASDs can thus be confused with other disorders that can also affect communication and social interactions – specific language and language disorders. learning known as “dys disorders”, attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) …
“If the child’s autism is of low severity and is not associated with an intellectual disability, it may also go unnoticed until the social demands are more important (entry to school, college …), The child being able to “compensate” to a certain point for his difficulties, ”say HAS experts.
If the diagnosis of autism is complex, certain signs should nevertheless alert parents: absence of babbling, distance pointing with the finger or social gestures (cuckoo, goodbye) before 12 months, words at 18 months and at -beyond, word association at 24 months and beyond.
Source: HAS press release
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