by Eleanor O'Donnell

Created on: November 27, 2009   Last Updated: April 28, 2012

The amount of mis-information about autism which is floating around the internet both saddens and amazes me. It's no wonder that so many people think that autism is almost impossible to spot in toddlers. More often, the case is that most parents of autistic children will have known something was wrong when their child was a baby or a toddler, and just not known at that time that the 'something' was autism. The causes behind the symptoms are quite similar in most autistic children; but they present differently in different children depending on their individual personalities, intelligence and upbringing. Every child is different after all.

An autistic child will demonstrate the 'triad of impairments'. This means that they will have difficulties with their social communication, social imagination and social interaction. The severity of how each individual is affected in each area will vary drastically, but if a child is autistic then there will be definite impairments in all three of these areas. Whether or not you will be able to spot them in a child during the toddler years is another matter, but there are certainly some behaviours which may highlight the problem early on in a child's life. It is important to understand at this point that while you as a parent may be able to spot autism in your toddler, it is rare for a child to be officially diagnosed prior to three years of age. Some of the difficulties that stem from autism can also stem from other developmental disorders, as well as from social and environmental factors. Pediatricians need to build up a firm history before making an official diagnosis to ensure that other possible causes behind a child's difficulties have first been ruled out.

Social Imagination

A social imagination is basically the ability to understand the world and see the bigger picture. A child whose social imagination is lacking may respond in an extreme manner to change. A common misinterpretation seems to be that autistic children will scream and cry if you try to upset any aspect of their daily routine, but in fact many autistic children only become distressed when small details within their expected routine are changed. For example an autistic toddler may expect the same bottle at every mealtime and become instantly distressed if given a new one. They may not care about where they are or who is feeding them, but they could be intensely attached to always having one particular bottle.

An autistic toddler learns by being

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