34 iParent Magazine August 2015 www.iparentmagazine.com
by Jen Devries
Ask an Expert
What is a Child Neurologist?
Pediatric Neurologists are physicians who diagnosis and treat neurological disorders (brain, spinal cord, nervous system, and muscles) affecting neonates, children and adolescents.
A wide variety of neurological disorders can presents in children including:
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muscle disorders
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(ADHD) and Autism
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coordination issues
What are some of the indicators for autism that families will observe first?
Primary indicators can be seen early as families begin to notice problems with social skills and repetitive behaviors.
The first indicator is related to social interaction. Parents may notice their child not interacting like other children (ex. social-emotional reciprocity)? They can also notice that their child does not look them in the eye.
Infants are social by nature and are able to look at faces, turn toward voices, grasp a finger and smile by 2 to 3 months. However, children with autism have difficulty engaging in the give-and-take human interactions. By 8 to 10 months of age these children may stop responding to their names, reduced interest in people and delayed babbling.
Dr. Nivedita Thakur, MD
Pediatric Neurologist
Memorial Hermann
UT Physicians
Primary indicators can be seen early as families begin to notice problems with social skills and repetitive behaviors.
The first indicator is related to social interaction. Parents may notice their child not interacting like other children (ex. social-emotional reciprocity)? They can also notice that their child does not look them in the eye.
Infants are social by nature and are able to look at faces, turn toward voices, grasp a finger and smile by 2 to 3 months. However, children with autism have difficulty engaging in the give-and-take human interactions. By 8 to 10 months of age these children may stop responding to their names, reduced interest in people and delayed babbling. As a toddler, they have difficulty playing social games, don’t imitate the actions of others and prefer to play alone. They may fail to seek comfort or respond to parents’ displays of anger or affection in typical ways.
Another indicator is repetitive patterns of behavior. These can include stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, insistence on sameness or inflexible adherence to routines, highly restricted, fixated interests, hyper or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment.
Common repetitive behaviors include hand-flapping, rocking, jumping and twirling, arranging and rearranging objects and repeating sounds, words or phrases.