Is this child brain damaged or autistic?

I babysit a 12 month old baby girl.  She was 6 weeks premature due to mothers health problems, so she was induced.  I started keeping this child when she was 2 months old.  From day 1 she has done nothing but scream and cry.  She will be 13 months on the 2nd, and still doesn't walk.  She only started crawling around 10 months.  Developmentally she seems behind, in my eyes, compared to my own children and those that i have kept in the past.

My concern for her is this:  She stares off into space if she is overstimulated.  By overstimulated i mean, I sat down on the floor with her reading to her, or encouraging her to walk.

She crys and screams for no apparent reason, sometimes just because someone walked to close to her.  Or if my baby boy who is 17 months tries to kiss her.

She cries herself to sleep, she cries when she wakes, she cries when she is being changed, she cries when i wipe her face due to food on it, she cries if she has to feed herself finger foods, she cries if i feed her baby food.

When she does stand it is not on her own, i can stand her up at a table next to my son to let them play together and she will shake as if she is terrified.

She shakes and cries and screams when i place her in the baby swing, on the little tykes slide or even in the wagon.

The only time she seems truly happy is when she is sitting in her car seat.  Her parents have hard wood floors and never ever place her on the floor.  She stays in her crib or car seat from what they have told me.

If I were to take her hands and hold them both over her head to help encourage her to walk she pitches a royal crying fit.

Nothing I do makes this child happy, I am at my wits end, and the parents seem oblivious to any problem.

I do know that she does not even now at her age, sleep through the night and most nights they bring her into bed with them.

Please help...what can i do to help this poor child, she is the most beautiful little girl i have ever seen and I would love to know just what i can do to improve her stay with me and maybe the quality of her life while she is with me...but i have yet to find anything that works!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Vikki,

It is true that this little girl is not developing at what would be regarded as a normal rate. However, this is true of many children, and it's a bit too early to assert that there is some form of developmental disorder occurring. In the title of your inquiry you wonder if you are witnessing the effects of either brain damage or autistc disorder. There's no evidence that either of these conditions is necessarily present.

If the child is not receiving the opportunity at home to develop her muscles for crawling, standing, walking, etc., this will certainly retard her progress. You can't make her happy. But you can position her in ways that will promote gross motor development - that will help.

Her parents would do well to have her examined by a developmental pediatrician to rule out the presence of developmental disorder of any serious sort. There is sufficient evidence already to suggest that this is not simply a case of late development within the normal spectrum.