Many babies brought to Vinmec International Hospital – Consultation and Treatment Center of Mental diseases and Autism by their parents are speech delayed rather than autistic. So then, how does one distinguish between these two conditions with very similar and confusing signs?
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“Speech delay” is curable. Autism can only be stabilized. |
Internet is just for reference
Baby Nguyen Duy H. (Hanoi) is now 18 months old, but has not yet babbled. By studying online, his mother discovered that her child had up to 18 signs of autism, including: speech delay, unresponsive to adult voices, avoidance of direct eye contact, scratching, beating others, mimicking words, spinning, tiptoeing, etc… Concerned that her child may have autism, she came to Vinmec International Hospital – Consultation and Treatment Center of Mental diseases and Autism . Given a clinical examination and international-standard psychological test, an initial diagnosis of language disorder was made, rather than autism.
H shares many signs in common with an autistic child such as: limited eye contact, lack of response to parents’ cuddling, and disinterest in others’ reactions when given something. But he still exhibited signs of interaction and wanting attention when giving things to parents. Children with autism tend to repeat phrases such as “Please mom” to everybody without changing pronouns. But H. can distinguish different people and use appropriate pronouns such as “Please auntie”, “Please grandpa”, and “Please grandma.”
Speech Delay is usually caused by children having difficulties with language and their surrounding environment. Therefore, according to psychologist Dang Thi Thanh Tung, if children with speech delay receive adequate linguistic intervention, they will become relatively stable after 3-6 months. After being treated with psychotherapy together with linguistic lessons, baby H started to show encouraging progress. He began by pronouncing simple words such as “grandma” and “please,” but gradually experienced language ability improvement. Baby H started to open up to other people, learned how to communicate with others, and shed his aggressive habit of hitting others.
How to distinguish between speech delay and autism
Psychologist Dang Thi Thanh Tung said: there have been quite a number of children with speech delay brought to our Consultation and Treatment Center of Mental diseases and Autism with suspicion of autism. This kind of confusion is rather common. It is recommended that parents should not be over worried or misinterpret the signs and behaviors of these two conditions.
According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, a child diagnosed with autism must exhibit all three of the following criteria: social interaction impairment, language communication impairment and behavioral disorder. “Social interaction impairment” includes: abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and using gestures, reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect, and failure to respond to social interactions… “Language communication impairment” includes: speech delay, difficulties in sharing imaginative play or making friends, speaking nonsense, etc…”Behavioral impairment” includes: insistence on keeping certain objects for long periods of time, getting attached to television, books, and/or numbers, walking on toes, running around, etc…
The most distinguishing sign of autism is beside from language impairment, the child will show social interaction impairments such as irritation, self hurt, especially avoid eye contact with others. Whether it is autism or speech delay, it is recommended to take your child to doctor for diagnosis and early treatment by doctors and specialists. When a child is taken to the hospital, our doctor will examine and give initial diagnosis, after 10 to 15 therapy, based on how he/she responses to treatment, doctor will have confirmed diagnosis and treatment plan for the child.
Speech delay is curable. For autism children, therapy may help improve interaction impairment, behavioral impairment, and language impairment to help them develop as normally as possible. Therefore it is very important to identify early signs of autism to get the most efficient treating result.
Bài viết này được viết cho người đọc tại Hà Nội, Hạ Long, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng.
