Autism, or ASD, occurs in 1 out of every 166 children and is increasing at a rapid rate of 10 percent every year. But, many parents may be missing the early warning signs -- and their children are not benefiting from early intervention.

Because the brain disorder affects different children in very different ways, symptoms are not always easy to spot or diagnose. For example, one autistic child might have difficulty looking anyone in the eye, while another child may feel fine making eye contact but can’t stand to be touched or can’t tolerate the taste or texture of certain foods.

The common denominators that autistic children share are problems with social interaction, problems communicating with others and playing at developmentally appropriate levels, and a tendency to repeat the same actions over and over again.

Some parents may observe a problem at birth, while others may take a year to notice. Typically parents detect the problem before their doctors do. Because many doctors don’t see a child often enough or long enough to observe problem behaviors, they may recommend allowing more time to monitor development. This contributes to a delayed response—averaging about two years—between a parent first mentioning a concern and a doctor’s referral for evaluation.

The drawback of waiting to evaluate a child for developmental delays is that the brain has critical periods for developing specific skills: If children don’t learn those skills during that time, they might lose the opportunity to learn them altogether.

“If you suspect something is wrong, push for an evaluation,” advises Paige Powell, Ph.D., clinical director at Bridges Therapeutic Preschool Program for Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, part of Texas Children’s Hospital’s Learning Support Center.

While having a full evaluation takes time and money, getting the process started enables the child to begin intervention as soon as possible, at times even before the evaluation and diagnosis are complete.

“Autistic children don’t learn from observing; they have to be taught skills and then learn to apply those skills to their everyday life,” Powell explains. “The earlier intervention starts, the better the prognosis later.”

Texas Children’s Hospital’s Autism Diagnostic clinic provides extensive, multidisciplinary evaluations when forming a diagnosis. While experts do not know the exact causes of autism, they point to an interaction between environment and genetics. Specialists from various areas of Texas Children’s and Baylor are collaborating to explore these interactions.

Dr. Diane Treadwell-Deering, chief of the Psychiatry and Psychology service at Texas Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, is heading the collaborative efforts of the Autism Treatment Network, a nationwide group of institutions that are creating a “gold standard” of medical treatment that will be shared with physicians, researchers, parents, policy makers and others dedicated to enhancing the care of individuals with autism.