My son Charles is 3 1/2 yrs old... for the past 2 years I have been saying something was not right. After much research I came to the conclusion of autism. Thursday this was confirmed.

A family friend suggested we see a neurologist, thank god. My head was spinning with other things. The appointment was two months after the initial diagnosis, as I found out this is a short wait. We somehow randomly lucked out on where we live and have access to some of the best pediatric care in the country. We also lucked out with our pediatrician. She has the wait and see approach but with a little push she has some great connections and gets us right in the door. I found out later that a two month wait is nothing.

Our EI provider had told us about an intensive service provider that would come to your house for up to 20 hours a week. Wow was I excited. She gave us the name briefly on the way out the door. I called their intake and made an appointment for a month later. In meantime I did one of my many google searches and looked up the organization. I read the "about us" and saw the word Autism. I remember thinking this can't be right, our EI just said they would do what she did, but Patrick would be able to get more hours of help. Not a word about Autism.

There are several red flags that can point to an early diagnosis of autism. These signs are useful to know when observing the early mastery of developmental milestones. These signs include the areas of communication and socialization. Early diagnosis is key to early intervention.

Parents typically wonder if their child is developing typically. Sometimes it is difficult to determine at what age they should meet each milestone. There are certain red flags in terms of milestones that point to an early diagnosis of autism. This video will help educate about those red flags.