Oklahoma pediatrician talks early signs, diagnosis and myths about autism in children

April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time set aside to emphasize understanding and respect for autistic individuals.

Pediatrician Dr. Scott Cyrus joined LeAnne Taylor on News On 6 at 9 a.m. to discuss this disorder:

Q&A: Understanding Autism With Dr. Scott Cyrus

What is autism?

"We see autism as a problem where a child has a problem with thinking, communicating, interacting with others. It can range from being mild, because it is a spectrum, to being extremely severe."

"It's a neurodevelopmental issue, and so we see it a genetic vein, if you will, to look at it being common in runs in families."

Is autism more common in boys or girls?

"It's more common in boys, and we feel like it's more common in boys because of the Y chromosome."

"We have a fragile X issue, and many times when there's not a balance of another X, which would be, you know, a girl is XX, then with the Y, there's not that balance. And so it can affect boys about four times more often than girls."

Do we know what causes autism?

"Not really. We feel like there is that genetic issue because we see it run in families."

"We also know that therapies and we know that many times there's a delay in development, but there's not an absence of development. It just takes them longer to start to learn to communicate or interact or be able to understand what they're being asked to do."

How is autism diagnosed?

"Well, it's a behavioral diagnosis. There is not a test that typically tests for, unless there's like fragile X and that there is a genetic test for that and some of the other genetic issues."

"For the most part, this is diagnosed around five years of age. And that's, to me, the sad part."

"We have this M-CHAT, revised M-CHAT, that basically looks at toddlers. It starts out at 18 months and we again do it at 24 months. Sometimes we'll do it even up around 30 months of age and 36 months of age depending on how the child is developing or if there's real concerns from the parents."

"It's delayed for some reason because it is behavioral many times until five years of age, which makes the child miss out on a lot of therapy—speech therapy, occupational therapy. Typically, they don't need physical therapy because their motor skills are okay."

What signs should parents look for in their toddlers?

"Toddlers are very interactive. They're very social. They like to—you know, I always have the rule of the toddler is what's mine is mine and what yours is mine."

"Autistic children have a tendency to want to play by themselves. You may walk into the room—typically, when a parent walks into the room, the child looks up and they interact with the parent. Autistic children don't do that."

"You may ask the child a question. They act like they didn't even hear you. And that's one of the big red flags in my mind, is that the child acts like they're deaf. That's a very big concern, and I think that you should be bringing that to your physician's notice."

FIND THE M-CHAT-R TEST HERE: https://www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child

What about the controversial belief that vaccines cause autism?

"It cannot. I mean, it has not shown any evidence."

"We've proven this over and over again, but there are still those concerns, and physicians understand those concerns. They should be able to help educate the parents."

"Intervention is key. Early intervention is key to this. And the quicker we can get the child into speech therapy, into occupational therapy, helping the parents, will be the best for that child."

"Educating the parent about vaccines not having an influence on autism is extremely important."