What the Average 12-Month-Old Should be Doing

Many of the requests that I have gotten lately for topics in this blog are guidelines as to what the normal development is of certain ages. For a long time, I have hesitated to talk about this for a few reasons. Each child develops differently, and what may seem behind could actually be perfectly normal, and babies who were born prematurely have different schedules related to age than do babies born full term. There is even a normal speech delay with bi-lingual children, who may not talk as quickly or with as much vocabulary because their brains are busy learning … Continue reading

Identifying Autism in Babies

Numerous studies have shown that early intervention is key to getting a better outcome with autism-related therapies. Efforts are being made by physicians and teachers to identify autism in children as young as preschool age, but some experts say this still isn’t enough. Being able to identify babies under the age of three or four is the goal of some researchers. The average age of a diagnosis of autism is at almost four years old. Sage Publications and The National Autistic Society recently published a report on clinical assessment of autism in high-risk babies 18-months of age. A baby is … Continue reading