There's a lot of confusion with toddlers.
Many parents are worried about their toddler in terms of their language development, their
imitation, their tantrums, and they are concerned that their child might have autism.
But they're hoping for the best and, in a lot of ways, putting their head in the sand
and hoping that everything just works itself out.
Today I wanna talk about the M-CHAT, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers.
And this is a free tool that you can use to see what the red flags are for autism so you
can get out of denial and into action.
Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbera, autism mom, board-certified behavior analyst, and bestselling author of
The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders.
I fell into the autism world in 1999 when my first-born son Lucas was diagnosed with
autism one day before his third birthday.
But I actually fell into the autism world a year and a half earlier when my husband,
who's a physician, first mentioned the possibility that Lucas might have autism.
I was really freaked out, I had just had my second son Spencer, I was stressed, I had
no idea that my husband was thinking anything about Lucas' delays.
Lucas had some skills, he lost some skills, it was wintertime, I had a new baby.
I didn't wanna hear the word autism and I pretty much told him that.
And I just hoped that things would work itself out.
After Lucas was diagnosed with moderate-to-severe autism right before he turned three, I started
looking at the early warning signs of autism.
And I was really angry at my pediatrician for not knowing the signs, not telling me,
at the speech therapist who was falsely reassuring me.
I was angry at myself for not looking into this sooner.
As a mom having my first son I didn't really know anything about development and I didn't
know that that was my role, to worry about a child's development.
The rate of autism used to be, when Lucas was diagnosed two decades ago, 1 in 500.
It is now thought to be 1 in 59 or even as low as 1 in 29 some studies are showing.
So the rate of autism is higher, the waiting lists for evaluations are higher, so more
people, they're not only in denial, but they're having to wait and worry while they wait.
And trying not to panic but, at the same time, their children are not getting the kind of
therapy they need to make real gains.
So today I wanted to talk about the M-CHAT, which stands for the Modified Checklist of
Autism in Toddlers.
And it is valid for kids ages 16 months to 30 months of age, and it is something you
can print out off the internet at mchatscreen.com and it is simply a list of 20 questions that
... Some pediatricians do the M-CHAT.
The pediatrician that cared for my sons, they incorporated the M-CHAT after Lucas' diagnosis
and after I went on a mission to educate physicians in my local and state area.
So they do the M-CHAT at the 18-month well visit as well as the 24-month well visit.
They have parents fill out this screening tool in the waiting room and they can see
if anything looks suspicious.
And if there are red flags for autism they can then get them to an evaluation, hopefully
as soon as possible.
So some of the things on the M-CHAT, they are simply yes and no, and it says in the
directions that if your child rarely does things to mark it as a no.
They should be, for example, pointing a lot.
I know I recently did a video blog on pointing so you may wanna check that out.
But there are a few of these 20 questions that deal with pointing, that ask does your
child point with his index finger to show you things?
Does your child bring you things to show you?
Does your child, if you point across the room to a stuffed animal or to the TV or to Grandma,
say, "Look, Johnny!"
And you point, does the child's attention go in that general direction?
Does your child pretend or make believe is one of the questions, which, pretend play
is very delayed in kids with autism usually.
It also asks about unusual things like moving their fingers in front of their face near
the eyes.
It also talks about does your child, if you smile at him or her, does he smile back?
Does he have eye contact with you?
If you just turn your head and look at something will the child then follow your look to see
what you're looking at?
Does your child understand when you tell him or her to do something, like go get your shoes?
I remember when Spencer was a baby, he was probably six months old and Lucas had just
turned two, we brought in a photographer to our house to try to take pictures.
And the photographer gave Lucas a little film canister ... that's how much I'm dating myself,
this is back in the late '90s ... So he gave him a film canister, an empty one, and said,
"Can you throw this in the trash, buddy?"
And Lucas just threw it on the floor and went about his business.
And I thought, "He doesn't understand that."
But a child at the age of two should understand simple directions like throw this in the trash
or go get your shoes.
And it also talks about walking, which studies are now showing that kids with autism can
often have physical delays like walking late.
And do they enjoy movement activities?
Are they hypersensitive to noises?
So I do think that if parents download this M-CHAT at mchatscreen.com it'll give you more
information if your child is seeing signs of autism.
I also wrote a short ebook several months ago, called Is it Autism, ADHD, or Typical
Toddler Tantrums: Three Things You Can Do Today Instead of Worrying.
Those three things are to know the milestones for ages four months up to the age of five,
know when your child is supposed to sit up, crawl, walk, put two words together, point
to things, pretend play, imitate you without you telling them to, start to answer wh questions,
start to sing songs ... This is all in regular developmental milestones.
So one is know the milestones for each step and compare your child's abilities to those
milestones.
Step number two in my free ebook is if you do see delays get help, make a sick appointment
with your pediatrician, your child's pediatrician, because there's often no well visit between
the ages of two and three and a lot of people are waiting and worrying, waiting for that
next well visit which could be a couple of months away is never a good idea.
Make an appointment, speak to your child's pediatrician.
Also speak to your daycare providers, see what they think about your child's delays.
And step number three is to learn about ABA.
Applied behavior analysis is the most proven treatment for autism but it's also great for
kids with speech delays, ADHD, or even typical toddler tantrums.
And you can find out more about ABA by attending a free online workshop at marybarbera.com/toddlerworkshop.
I hope you enjoyed this short video blog, and if you can leave me a comment, give me
a thumbs-up, share this video with others who might benefit, and I'll see you right
here next week.