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Children who are thought to have autism or autism-like behaviors usually have problems with social functioning, but the neurobiology of individual children may be dramatically different from each other.
Optimal social interactions depend on many different brain-based abilities, including vision (pick up visual cues of social interaction), hearing (to pick up 'listened' cues of social interaction), motor imitation (to express with and mirror the movements of others), attention (to sustain focus on other people), language (to understand and express easily with others), feeling (to feel with and emotionally understand others), and the smooth integration of these different functions (sensory-sensory and sensory-motor processing).
If your child is diagnosed with autism or autism-like behaviors, learn as much as you can about his particular situation. Try to identify his strengths and recognize when he's having difficulty. Keep a diary of 'good' and 'bad' days, and try to factor in favorable and unfavorable environments, activities, and challenges. A sample diary can be found
here.
Sometimes troubleshooting problems can be difficult. Children may have more difficulty talking to or understanding other children or non-family members, so specific observations are important.
With a professional, try to figure the major sources of your child's communication difficulties - is it language? sensory sensitivities? visual? and focus educational and therapeutic strategies there. Because many of the brain's systems work together, improvement in one major area of cognitive processing often has beneficial effects in others.
Finally, make your home an oasis of love, comfort, and understanding. You are your child's best advocate, and you have a tremendous impact on his future.
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