Comments December 12, 2010 at 12:46 pm(1) Leila says:

Hi Lisa, I think your list is very helpful. The only thing I’d add because it’s a huge red flag, is that the child is not pointing her fingers to show what she wants and likes by 12 months. this was the first milestone my child didn’t reach even though everything else at that age seemed normal on him.

December 12, 2010 at 12:56 pm(2) autism says:

Thanks so much for your comment – will add that in!

December 12, 2010 at 8:15 pm(3) C. S. Wyatt says:

I’ll have to check the notes, but apparently I didn’t laugh or smile following birth. I was diagnosed retarded at birth, in part due to my lack of responses to external stimuli. I didn’t look at people or try to mimic their expressions during first few months. just wasn’t interested, I suppose. Often, I’m still not very aware of the people around me.

December 17, 2010 at 1:02 am(4) Twyla says:

Odd that ANB did not question the use of the word “symptoms” here. this would have been a likely place for him to give his lesson on the difference between “signs” and “symptoms” in the context of diagnosis. I can only speculate that he has no problem with an article on early diagnosis, but that he would prefer to derail conversations on mitochondrial disorder and autism. although the recent study did not claim to show that vaccines cause autism, mitochondrial disorder has been pointed to as a mechanism by which vaccines can cause autism. this is a promising area of research for better understanding some adverse vaccine reactions.

Interesting to note that the reputable web sites such as:h t t p : / / w w w . webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-symptomsandh t t p : / / w w w . mayoclinic.com/health/autism/DS00348/DSECTION=symptomsandh t t p : / / w w w . cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/signs.htmlandh t t p : / / w w w . ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htmalso use the word “Symptoms” even when describing early signs of autism, not subjective sensations reported by infants/children/adults with autism. So not sure why Lisa was taken to task, although simply stating the definitions without disparagement would have been fine.