When a child is autistic a lot of things are different than that of a child who is not autistic. For one thing, their communication skills are much different and more particular. About one third to one half of the individuals that have autism don’t get natural speech the way you might. And this of course affects their ability to meet their daily communication needs. This is why it is often very difficult to have a clear and proper conversation with someone who is autistic. The communication might be present in the first year of their life but the differences occur there, too. It might take an autistic child a longer time just to get to the babbling phase and then there are unusual gestures and even diminished responsiveness.
By the time the children are two or three they might start growing out of the babbling phase and might start to form words but they are still unable to properly convey their wants and wishes and might look to use the hands of the caregiver to alert them of their wants and needs. They know they are not able to communicate well so they generally keep requests and experiences to themselves. Rather, when they do speak, they are doing it simply to repeat the words of others. They also don’t distinguish the way you might. If someone points at an object you will immediately shift your eyes to what the person is pointing at. A child with autism however might be more focused on the hand itself. It’s this sort of displacement of focus that can make a child stand out from the others and could be a direct sign of their issue along with the delayed speech.
There are many signs that make an autistic child stand out and knowing these signs can only help to diagnose and treat.