The eighth annual World Autism Awareness Day was on April 2, 2016. Just because that day has come and gone does not mean that you have missed your chance to spread the word of Autism, since the whole moth of April is National Autism Awareness Month
Autism is a term for a group of disorders that affects brain development. The disorders are characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors. Its roots go back to very early brain development, but unfortunately, the symptoms of autism usually show up in children between the ages of 2 and 3.
Research shows that there is no one cause of Autism, and most cases seem to be caused by the combining of environmental factors and autism risk genes that influence early brain development.
By knowing some signs that might warn that your child could have autism, you could catch it pretty early and give the understanding care your child needs.
Red flags that could indicate that your child may be at risk for autism are no warm joyful expressions by six months of age; no back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles, or facial expressions by nine months; no babbling by 12 months; no back-and-forth gestures by 12 months; no words by 16 months; or no meaningful, two-word phrases by 24 months.
Monitoring developmental milestones in a child’s learning and behavior could also be a sign that your child could have autism.
The lack of knowledge and awareness about autism unfortunately led to people seeing the disorder as a negative and unfavorable thing. This in turn also led to people acting negatively towards those who had the disorder.
The spread of knowledge and awareness would better help those who have the disorder or loved ones of those who have the disorder. I have friends who are autistic and they are the most loving and amazing people I have ever met in my life. There is nothing wrong with them. They are just different, and different is a good thing.
Macaroni Kid Greater North West Houston is a free weekly newsletter and website focused on fun family events and information in Copperfield, Cy-Fair, Jersey Village, Memorial, and Houston, TX. We gather together all kinds of local family events and activities each week, and add useful information about classes, family-focused businesses, book and product reviews, recipes, crafts, school and camp guides and more. We proudly serve families in the Greater North West Houston area! Macaroni Kid Greater North West Houston is full of useful local information like this PLUS tons of kid-friendly events on our event calendar. Have an event you'd like submitted to our calendar for consideration? Submit an event here. Like what you see here and want to get all the fun delivered to your inbox weekly? Subscribe to our FREE weekly e-newsletter for 411 on local family fun!
