Act Early
Act Early - Early Intervention
The Act Early program is designed to track a child’s development and encourages families to take action if there is a concern (CDC Act Early). Early intervention addresses a child’s overall development. It can make extraordinary differences in a child’s development and will improve the outcome if he or she has autism or a related condition (100-day kit).
When a child misses milestones or has unusual behaviors, it is time for immediate action. Professional evaluation should be immediately sought and corrective action begun to get the child back on track as rapidly as possible. Most families take time to accept a diagnosis (it took our family six months). This is not a reason to delay! A specific diagnosis is not necessary. Rapid action leads to better outcomes! See what we saw and what we did for our son (Figure 2).
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Screen Time Limits
We believe all children must have screen time limits to give them their “best shot” at life. Screen time is associated with many adverse effects, including developmental delay, behavioral problems, other symptoms of autism, obesity and more (AAP, Slobodin 2019). Leading authorities recommend limits (AAP, WHO):
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< 18 months, NO screen time (includes no background TV or similar exposures)
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2-5 years, < 1 hour/day of parent supervised high quality programming
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·>5 years, consistent limits
Our 14 month-old has 2 minutes/day (to communicate with grandparents). Our 4 year-old has about 20 minutes per day (talking with grandparents and learning from family pictures/videos).
1. Family with sufficient acceptance to take action
2. Stopping screen time (TV, cell phones, etc.)
3. Family engagement.
5. Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
6. Speech therapy
7. Occupational therapy