The question of autism in an atypical infant.
The evaluation and brief treatment of a less-than-a-year-old girl whose parents were concerned she was autistic is described. We review what is known about the initial symptoms of autism and consider how early it is feasible to make a diagnosis. We outline the domains of cognitive, language, and social development that ought to be monitored given concern about autism and explain how we evaluated these domains in our home-based intervention. Finally, we consider possible explanations for this infant's recovery from a serious early disturbance in social relatedness.
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007802:Language; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011613:Psychotherapy; D013561:Symbolism