Five key signs of autism in children parents should know, according to an expert

An expert has shared that there are five things you should be looking out for if you have a feeling your child is autistic.

Conor McDonagh is the owner and director of Caerus Therapies, which offers autism assessments and support. Conor is also frequently offering advice on his TikTok account, sharing information about sensory processing issues to how to support an autistic child. Conor is also a specialist occupational therapist, with sensory integration certification and expertise in occupational therapy and applied social studies. Among his many videos, he posted five signs that may show your child is autistic. “My experience on some of the most obvious signs of autism in toddlers”, he captioned the video.

Conor specified that by toddler, he means a child between 12 and 36 months old. “It should be noted that typically we don’t assess children until they’re four years of age, so my perspective is coming from parents reporting back to when their children were this age”, he added.

Top five most common signs your child is autistic

“The first most obvious sign from my perspective is when children have sensory processing difficulties. They react very strongly to loud and sudden sounds or clothes feel, for example”, Conor explained. He then also said that another tell-tale sign could be that they “flap their hands repetitively or they rock back and forth repetitively”.

If your child is experiencing delayed speech, of course, this is the “third most obvious sign”. Conor added: “So typically we would expect a child to start using their first words at approximately eight months, and then start putting words together by 24 months.”

If a child doesn’t show much interest in other children, then this could also be a sign they’re autistic. If “they don’t seek out to play with other kids” and “they’d rather play alone”, it could signal autism. Finally, he said “difficulties communicating” can show a child is autistic, so “using gestures like nodding to indicate yes or shaking their head to indicate no”.

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According to the NHS, signs of autism in young children include:

• not responding to their name
• avoiding eye contact
• not smiling when you smile at them
• getting very upset if they do not like a certain taste, smell or sound
• repetitive movements, such as flapping their hands, flicking their fingers or rocking their body
• not talking as much as other children
• not doing as much pretend play
• repeating the same phrases

The National Autistic Society also says that the characteristics of autism vary from one person to another. Children can be diagnosed as autistic when they’re quite young, in some cases from the age of two, but not everyone is diagnosed early on. It’s quite normal for a child to not be diagnosed until they’re older, or even an adult.

The National Autistic Society says some of the main signs that a child may be autistic include:

not drawing their parents or others’ attention to objects or events, for example not pointing at a toy or a book, or at something that is happening nearby (or a child may eventually do this, but later than expected)

carrying out activities in a repetitive way, for example always playing the same game in the same way, or repeatedly lining toys up in a particular order

resistance to change or doing things differently

emerging difficulties with social interaction and social communication

behaviour such as biting, pinching, kicking, pica (putting inedible items in the mouth), or self-injurious behaviour

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