Lack of facial expression when you were a baby?

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It would be difficult for parents and teachers to notice no apparent deviations from normal development in an autistic kid until age 11 or 12. Some people are not diagnosed until adulthood, but the abnormalities were noticed in childhood during childhood, just there was no knowledge of autism to account for them, or maybe parents didn't want to evaluate their children for anything. There is no way for autistic children to mask their autistic behaviors or compensate for lack of neurotypical behaviors in early childhood. If you developed problems starting from 11 or 12 and lacked autistic traits as child (like not fitting criteria when you were five), then you don't have autism no matter the development of autistic-like behaviors in later life. Many disorders have traits that appear similar to autistic traits, but underlying causes are different and not good to label autism without variety of autistic traits and fitting criteria in childhood.

gizalba-ever heard of mirror neurons?
these are said to be dysfunctional in many of us with autism,in those with dysfunctional mirror neurons the person is unable to mimick behaviors,mannerisms etc.
just a thought-sounds like this might be connected.

gizalba-ever heard of mirror neurons?
these are said to be dysfunctional in many of us with autism,in those with dysfunctional mirror neurons the person is unable to mimick behaviors,mannerisms etc.
just a thought-sounds like this might be connected.

The first one to give me a informal "presumed" dx, said "rubbish", when I mentioned mirror neurons. He was a professor of psychology at a university and had specialized in autism spectrum. He never heard of them.
Perhaps the existence of those mirror neurons is only a very speculative suggestion.

I did not show any obvious signs when I was young -

I am wondering whether lack of facial expression or a continuous 'serious' expression would be a potential sign of autism in a baby or not?

I am wondering about being assessed for ASD but one thing that potentially flaws the theory that that is what is wrong with me, is the fact there seems to be little in my childhood that suggests it - symptoms have only got worse since I was around 12. Furthermore, my family say there was nothing about me when I was a baby that suggested autism, and as a child I seemed fine playing with others kids etc. So the only thing I wonder about is my facial expressions as a young baby. When I compare my baby photos with my brother's - he has quite animated facial expressions, he is smiling and giggling. However on all my baby photos up until around 2 my expression seems to be the same - I always look very very serious, and I never smile. After around 2 though, I do begin to smile and giggle.

I don't know if this is relevant at all, to point out to a specialist if I see one? I can't seem to find much info about it online and about what normal rate of development of facial expression in a baby is meant to be.

...and I recall beating up a neighbor child just to see how he'd react (I took no sadistic pleassure in this; I was just curious about his reaction).

Not on topic, but I did that too.

I'm sorry that you had such a hard time growing up. Speak to your parents and get a better understanding of your childhood days.

It could be OCD, generalized anxiety disorder and Bipolar? Obviously I'm no professional.

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If you didn't display any signs of autism when you were young, then I'd say your social problems are due to shyness, anxiety and so on...

This.

P19 ‘First recognition of the clinical signs in adolescence:

…. In the early school years, social play tends to be more action than conversation, with friendships being transitory and social games relatively simple with clear rules…. The child has one teacher for the whole year and both teacher and child learn how to read each others signals and develop a working relationship.... Life is relatively simple and the child may be less aware of being different to other children, and his or her difficulties may not be conspicuous in the classroom or playground.’

The diagnostic assessment of girls:

P47 ‘There can be other strategies to avoid active participation in class proceedings, such as being well behaved and polite, this being left alone by teachers and peers… A girl with Asperger’s syndrome… is more likely than boys to develop a close friendship with someone who demonstrates a maternal attachment to this socially naïve but ‘safe’ girl. These characteristics reduce the likelihood of being identified as having one of the main diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s syndrome, namely a failure to develop peer relationships… The girl’s problems with social understanding may only become conspicuous when her friend and mentor moves to another school.’

Without accounting for restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, I have always wondered how they distinguish between social anxiety, shyness and high functioning autism in, say, a 5 year old.

According to a study by Gillberg et al 12 it is possible to recognise autism in infancy. The symptoms most commonly reported in a study of 28 children were peculiarities of gaze, hearing and play.

Gaze
Avoidance of eye contact is often thought to be a characteristic of children with autism. This feature is less important than the unusual quality of the gaze. Many infants do not appear to see people and so may not look people in the eye, but in the baby with autism the gaze tends to be brief and out of the corner of the eye7.

Hearing
Peculiarities of hearing seem to be especially significant. Many children with autism have been suspected of being deaf at an early stage in their lives17. Very few actually have a hearing loss, though they may not respond to their name and appear to be unaffected by audible changes in the environment. Children with autism may seem to ignore even very loud noises that would be expected to startle most ordinary children. This may be to do with a generalised lack of interest in their surroundings9. It may be due to abnormalities in perception, since children with autism can appear to be especially sensitive to certain sounds 3,16. For example, a child with autism may develop a fascination for particular sounds such as that made by a friction-driven toy, or respond to the sound of a sweet being unwrapped from a considerable distance. Other sounds may appear to cause extreme distress, such as a police siren or a barking dog.

Social development and play
In young babies, play and social activity are closely connected and it is in this sphere of development that parents may note that their child is odd. Babies with autism may show a lack of interest in the types of play that most infants enjoy, such as those which involve social interaction with the parent.

The lack of sharing activity appears to be significant. Frith and Soares's study 13 of 173 responses from parents of children with autism indicate the lack of joint interest and activity displayed by their children in the first year. Babies with autism do not point out things of interest, do not take an active part in playing baby games and do not want to share in activities. These signs were not mentioned by the control group of parents of normally-developing children.