Early developmental delay in children with autism: A study from a developing country

• Autistic children have delay in their motor milestones.
• Motor milestones of boys and girls with ASD are same.
• WHO Motor Milestones Standard is a good way to diagnose ASD in early life.
• WHO standards of Milestones could use as an instrument for screening ASD in less developed countries.

Early diagnosis is appropriate and important for developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. In many less developed countries, unfortunately, diagnosis of this disorder is delayed. The aim of the present study is to determine whether this disorder can be screened using simple strategies such as comparison of the age of acquisition of motor skills. For this purpose, 124 children with autism were chosen to enter the study, and their parents were asked to retrospectively specify the age of achieving milestones of sitting without support, standing alone and walking alone. Information obtained from the parents was compared with World Health Organization standards. Results indicate that participants (male and female) have significantly delayed age of acquisition of all three skills. Based on this result, it can be suggested that existing standards, as a simple means with low cost and easy availability, can be used for early screening of the disease at a younger age so that treatment can be provided more quickly.