Is Infant Head Lag A Sign That Your Child Is On the Autistic Spectrum?

A new study suggests that infants who show a delay in head and neck muscle control may be at risk for autism.  A baby typically is able to control neck muscles by around the age of four months.  Meaning that when being pulled from a lying to a sitting position baby's head should remain in line with torso and not flop back.  My concern is that autism is already being overdiagnosed and findings did not gaurantee a link by any means.  In fact thirty-five percent of the children who experienced this head lag at 6 months appeared to be developing normally by age 30 to 36 months.  Also delays in reaching this developmental milestone have already been associated with premature babies and in babies with cerebral palsy who are not autistic.  Of additional concern to me was the participants in this study were all in the high risk category for autism.  Each participant had an older sibling diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

My advice is to be observant of your baby, keep your pediatrician up-to-date on your infants milestones and they will let you know when the delays are something to worry about.  Don't worry if your baby is not keeping up with the Jones' baby, all babies develop differently. 

Safety 101: Are Doctors Over Diagnosing Certain Diseases or Are They Really on that Much of an Increase?

The Center for Disease Control recently realeased a report that Autism rates have sky rocketed to a rate of 1 in every 88 children.  Is this increase due to a change in our environment, better diagnosing of this disease or over diagnosing?  Since there is no known cause for Autism, the answer to the question as to whether it is something in the environment is we don't know.  Hopefully researchers will have some answers soon.   Having seen reports on some of the tools used to diagnose Autism, I will venture to say that we may be experiencing an overdiagnosis of the milder forms of this particular disease.  The check lists for determining if your child is on the spectrum contains questions that can apply to many children at one time or another.  What child hasn't experienced social awkwardness, avoided eye contact or had focusing issues to name just a few of the questions.  For diseases like Autism which have no definitive medical test to determine whether a child has the disease or disorder or not, overdiagnosis is always a possibility.  Since for the most part the diagnosis is based on checklist from parents and teachers, be carefully to fill them out accurately.  I suggest that you sit down with another person who knows your child well and talk out each question to ensure the validity of your checklist.

Having made a case for over diagnosis, here are some of the things to look for if you think that your child may fall on the Autistic spectrum,  After all early diagnosis will ensure that your child will grow up to be all that they can be.  Is your six month old not looking you in the eye?  Is your twelve month old not reacting to their name?  Is your eighteen month old not playing pretend games?  If this describes your baby, don't panic but don't sit there in denial either.  Talk to your doctor about your observation and seek professional advice who are knowledgeable in this field to see if your concerns are warranted.