Autism Milestones by Age: What Progress Really Looks Like

If your child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), you might be wondering what the typical milestones are to look out for. While many of these developmental milestones are easily found for neurotypical children, they may not be for children with autism.

Part of the reason for this is that autism really does affect people drastically differently. It’s why it’s referred to as a spectrum.

In other words, there aren’t the same set developmental milestones that you might see published at your child’s pediatrician’s office. That being said, there are ways in which you can identify early on whether your child has autism, and also the progress your child is making after they begin receiving treatment such as applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy).

In this article, we’ll describe some of the autism milestones by age, how they match up with neurotypical milestones, and what progress really looks like.

Table Of Contents

First Two Years

In a child’s first year, the typical developmental milestones include making eye contact and social smiles, responding to their name, playing basic games such as peek-a-boo, showing interest in other people and things and starting to babble.

This is the time when parents may start to see the first signs of autism in their child. That’s because they may not be interested in social engagement, may not respond to their name, may not make eye contact or give warm smiles and not be very vocal at all.

By year two of a child’s life, the typical developmental milestones they’ll cross include gesturing such as waving or pointing, saying some simple words, engaging in play-based activities and following basic requests.

In this time period, children with autism may have only a few words or no words at all, may not imitate others or engage in play, and may not make those same gestures.

Preschool Age

Through preschool up to about age 5, neurotypical children will usually begin to form longer sentences, understanding other their own and other people’s feelings, take turns playing games and ask questions — sometimes a lot of them.

Children with ASD often experience delays in speech, exhibit repetitive behaviors and restrictive interests, either have challenges with or not want to engage in social situations, and have troubles understanding feelings, especially those of others.

ABA Therapy’s Involvement

If you notice that your child is exhibiting some of the traits of the children with autism described above, now is the time to have them evaluated for ASD. The earlier they are evaluated and diagnosed, the earlier treatment can start.

What ABA therapy will do at this point is focus on those key areas where your child is behind — specifically communication, social interaction and practical daily life skills.

Therapists will engage in pretend play, turn-taking games and sharing. This helps with these key skills but also helps them work on joint attention, and understanding typical social cues, emotions and how to take turns.

They can also work on replacement behaviors for the repetitive behaviors your child might be exhibiting such as rocking, hand flapping or having trouble with anything but a rigid routine.

What Progress Looks Like

Again, it’s important to understand that progress in children with autism won’t be the same across the board. Not only that, but progress sometimes isn’t linear; your child may make a lot of progress right away, but then seemingly slow down.

That being said, many children on the autism spectrum have the ability to develop social, emotional and life skills that allow them to live a fully independent life. Through ABA therapy, children can show consistent improvement in targeted skills over time and with repetition.

As a parent, you should always be communicating with your child’s ABA therapy team. They can help guide you on what skills are to be targeted through their treatment program and what their goals are.

Through this constant communication and teamwork, you’ll be able to get a better sense of what progress looks like for your child with autism.

Blue Gems ABA Helps Children with ASD Make Progress

Progress doesn’t always look the same for children with ASD. It’s important to recognize that autism really can span a wide spectrum, and there are many different paths children can take toward development.

At Blue Gems ABA, we craft personalized ABA therapy plans that take into account the specific and unique strengths, challenges, preferences and needs of each child we see. This allows us to support each child in the ways that they need so they can make progress in their development.

To learn more, please contact us today.