Autism Spectrum disorder

Hi. My son has been recently diagnosed with ASD. He is 4yrs old. The Dev. Ped said he had a mild form of this disorder. He is very high functioning. His problem areas are language and socialization but couldn't his social problems be caused by his delay in speech and language and maybe improve as his language improves. He does have sensory issues which may be one reason why he doesn't interact well. He often wants me to play with him but at school he plays alone and has no desire for peers. He will ask his older brothers to play but he only interacts for a few minutes then is off to something on his own. Could this still be Autism even though he does try to interact or are we missing some other type problem? Thanks for you assistance.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

At this age it can be very difficult to discern whether a child is displaying a condition at the high end of the spectrum of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, or whether there are simply developmental lags that have the potential of eroding as development proceeds. To a certain extent, the potential difference between the two views is a moot issue because, at the bottom line, the focus is on promoting social development (including language), whatever technical diagnosis is assigned to the collection of symptoms or behaviors or characteristics. And efforts should continue to be directed toward keeping your son in the mix, so to speak, and not deferring to his inclination to shy away from social interaction. To defer to this tendency is only to invite more of the same.