Does Your Baby Have Autism?: Detecting the Earliest Signs of Autism

by Osnat Teitelbaum

For many years, the diagnosis of autism has centered on a child's social interaction―from poor eye contact to lack of language skills. Although the autism community agrees that early intervention is key to effective treatment, the telltale signs of this disorder usually don't reveal themselves until the age of two or three. But what if it were possible to detect the potential for autism within the first year of life? That is the basis of Osnat and Philip Teitelbaum's book, Does Your Baby Have Autism?
This dedicated wife-and-husband team has worked for nearly two decades to develop ways of detecting signs of potential autism or Asperger's syndrome by examining a child's early motor development. By studying the patterns of righting, sitting, crawling, and walking in typical infants, and comparing them with those of children who were later diagnosed with autism, the authors have been able to pinpoint movement patterns that appear to be the precursors of autism and Asperger's.

Does Your Baby Have Autism? first provides general information about the history of autism, followed by a discussion of The Ladder of Motor Development. Each of four chapters then examines one motor milestone--righting, sitting, crawling, or walking--contrasting typical development with atypical development so that it's easy to recognize unusual patterns of movement. Also included is a unique thirty-second Tilt Test--easy to perform at home--which helps reveal a balance problem characteristic of children with autism. Finally, parents are guided in finding professional help for a child whose motor skills may indicate a problem.

There is a way to detect signs of autism early in a child's life, when therapy can do the most good. Does Your Baby Have Autism? holds the key to a brighter future for children and their families.

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2007

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Using parent video, during the baby and infant ages, of children later diagnosed with autism the authors were able to outline varying delays that were consistent amongst the videos. Looking at motor development to assist in diagnosing autism is a new topic in the field of autism. Therefore, I would not (as authors stressed) rely on single delays to mean autism; however, multiple delays of asymmetrical motor movements would be a reason to be alarmed for developmental delays and possibly autism. I thought the book was very parent friendly but informative and professional. It gave an understandable description of both typical and atypical development, which I found helpful, while addressing the ladder of motor development.

[Evaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO interesting! Very understandable for parents and useful tips to spot developmental delays that might not be obvious. It's not enough that your child technically meets the typical milestones, they need to be doing the movements in a typical way too. This book shows you how to evaluate your own baby. Every new parent should read this. FYI-If your child is past the baby phase, this book would not be helpful. It really only covers the first year of life (gross motor skills- rolling, crawling, sitting, walking), but it would be so great to identify a problem at a very young age and start treating it early.

[Brooke Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

...wish they would have covered language development in this book.