Early Signs

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) lists five behaviors that warrant further evaluation:

  • Does not babble or coo by 12 months
  • Does not gesture (point, wave, grasp) by 12 months
  • Does not say single words by 16 months
  • Does not say two-word phrases on his or her own by 24 months
  • Has any loss of any language or social skill at any age

For more information please click on the Act Early Project links below or visit www.cdc.gov/actearly or www.autism-society.org.

Act Early Project

Learn The Signs Act Early Project

A grant from the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) to conduct a Learn the Signs Act Early Project has been secured by Child Health Specialty Clinics. This grant provides an opportunity for Early Childhood providers (agencies serving toddlers and young children) to increase awareness of this disorder and provide resources to connect families to follow-up services.

The project will provide to each participating program at no charge:

  • Learn the Signs Act Early materials from the Center for Disease Control, Autism Spectrum Disorders Fact Sheets (with Iowa resources for screening), and What to Do If You Suspect Your Son/Daughter Might Have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (with Iowa resources for comprehensive evaluation and diagnosis) and What To Do if Your Son or Daughter has been diagnosed with an ASD (connecting families with service agencies like Autism Society of Iowa, Early ACCESS, Child Health Specialty Clinic, and Regional Autism Services Program)
  • On-site orientation to all materials, distribution process, and outcomes reporting requirements.
  • Ongoing technical assistance, as requested, via phone call support throughout project period. Participating programs making this commitment to distribute these fliers include: Child Health Specialty Clinic, WIC, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Early Head Start, Title V MCH Grantees, and Home Visiting programs.

The fliers can be found by clicking the following links:

Act Early Program – Autism Fact Sheet

Act Early Program – Diagnosed ASD Flyer

Act Early Program – Suspect ASD Flyer

Act Early Program – Tracking Your Child’s Milestones