To Table of Contents all of the manifestations haven ’ t quite taken hold , is that you can prevent some of those manifestations from coming on board ,” she says . “ Early intervention has a focus on getting the child ready to learn . The earlier you intervene , the more likely that you are going to prevent a learning disability .”
It ’ s estimated more than one in 100 Australians are on the autism spectrum and living with the developmental condition .
How autism affects development
ASD impairs social communication and manifests with restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests , and also often includes sensory sensitivities .
Looking at what children are not doing
Professor Dissanayake says the onset of autism is variable in the first two years of life , with some babies showing signs right from birth that they ’ re not engaging with people in the usual way .
Other babies seem to develop typically and then plateau in their development while others develop typically and then lose some skills .
“ We need to educate people about what typical development looks like in those first two years and then what autistic development looks like ,” Professor Dissanayake says .
“ In autism , it ’ s the absence of behaviours that you are looking for .
“ It ’ s very easy to look for abnormal behaviours , the presence of things really marks itself but the absence of things is hard to look for and they are quite subtle in those early years .”
Understanding , not labels
Professor Dissanayake says it ’ s important for parents to understand that an early diagnosis is not about labelling the child .