Early concerns of mothers of children later diagnosed with autism: Implications for early identification

There is a need to identify early indicators in autism, particularly with reference to comorbid mental retardation and specific culture so that early intervention can be given. In this backdrop, this study aims to understand the early indicators of autism as perceived by the Indian mothers: the age of reporting and receiving diagnosis, and their variability due to comorbid mental retardation (MR). The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase-I, information about early concerns, age of reporting concerns, and subsequent diagnoses were elicited from 50 mothers of children later diagnosed with autism. From a wide range of concerns, only four showed significant correlation with the clinical diagnosis of autism, which were considered the early indicators. In Phase-II, information about the early indicators was collected from mothers of 10 children with autism and mental retardation and from mothers of another 10 children with mental retardation alone, matched for age gender, and severity of mental retardation. Results indicated that specific indicators could be identified from the mothers’ concerns, which could be from any of three core areas of autism. Comorbid mental retardation did not have any effect on early recognition and subsequent diagnosis. Implications of early indicators are discussed from a cultural perspective.