Host: Four month old, the key time. One, because the kid have any social smile. Tell us what is the social smile?
Henry Joseph Hasson: So that maybe they'll start smiling if you smile at them, and the mother especially makes them comfortable, they will smile back. Sometimes they will even start smiling spontaneously in this age when they're just happy and comfortable.
Host: They laugh a little bit?
Henry Joseph Hasson: Sure.
Host: They should make eye contact. They should look at you, not around you, not the ceiling, at you sometimes, shouldn't they?
Henry Joseph Hasson: Yeah, especially people that they recognize, especially the mom or the people that are around them in their house. They want to look at them and be comforted by them at that age.
Host: There is a big question out that we should screen kids for autism, and I look at video tape sometimes, and I think it's a good idea, for the children who have reached two months and four months, looking for that eye contact. It doesn't mean that your kid has a problem but it's a good thing to look at, to see if the kid has a social smile spontaneous laughter, looks for the mother or the father.
Henry Joseph Hasson: Right.
Host: That's very important, and a head lag is just about, totally gone with every baby, is that true?
Henry Joseph Hasson: Yeah, by this point, it should be able to -- he should be able to start sitting them up and holding them with support and they should be able to hold their head up within that position. Some babies will start even being able to control their trunk and start sitting up.
Host: If you had a kid, they called you up, they are a little concerned about the drawback what would be asking and I am saying, because today we tried to pick kids in an early intervention problems. What would you be looking for -- someone called you up and say, like I am going to my pediatrician, there's a little concern. What questions would you ask using this kids to be maybe looked at?
Henry Joseph Hasson: So by this age they are really like we discussed, they should start really looking at the mom. They should be comfortable with her. They should turn at the sound. They should be comfortable by the mom's sound, a lot of times when the baby is crying, and the mom can console them, singing and things like that, and they like to be held. They like to be cuddled, these are all signs of a healthy baby.
Host: So a good socialization. Good interaction. They want the mother. They want -- there would probably be that the kid never wanted to be held, is that be bother you a little bit?
Henry Joseph Hasson: Yeah, it could be. That could be concerning, and again, this is an early age, and it's difficult to tell exactly what's making the baby uncomfortable. They can't tell us what the problem is, but if they are not having any social interactions, and are not looking at mom, they are not focusing, they are not hearing things, here are the things that are concerning. You might do some tests. Make sure that things are going okay. Maybe like we said, some early intervention to help, those up their skills. Sometimes it's typically just be the environment that they are in, they are not being stimulated enough for that, they are not being comfortable properly, and sometimes it's just an education where the mom an help with that.
Host: I am at different side of fence, somebody's early intervention people. I was like a developmental pediatrician or pediatrologist to look at the kids and saying, we should refer the kid out, because many times early intervention the evaluators are masters in social work.
Henry Joseph Hasson: Right.
Host: I don't say that they are bad, but they don't have the same background as we do.
Henry Joseph Hasson: Right. They don't have the same training skills in really identifying what the problem is. They can identify when there is a certain problem, and they can do some physical therapy or language therapy, but it's important to understand why the baby has this problem. What's causing the problem? That's something that really a neurologist or the pediatrician is well equipped to do.
Host: So it sounds like a team effort. Should be the doctor, the parents, who have the pediatrician who is confident with, a draw mental pediatrician, paediatric neurologist, this is of some concern, and we as fathers and grandfathers are very careful giving out that news, because we know what it really means, we don't want to hear it. So sometimes we are very delicate, we try to do it that way, but the truth is if we get the kids early, with some question marks, down the road a lot of the kids seem to be a lot better off, is that sure.
Henry Joseph Hasson: Yeah, sure especially in the children where it's just the matter of the proper treatment that they are getting. The proper environment they are getting and if that's an issue, just fixing that will fix the problem. If a child has a real problem that's not fixable, is nothing, you will still help them, but obviously not as much, but a lot of times we can help these children and one of the most important thing is communication, by the neurologist, and the pediatrician ,and the therapist, all communicating with each other and understanding exactly what's going on, and all talking together, making really help the baby the best possible.
Host: Lots of American county come out with the statement and say, Oh, we want the pediatricians to screen all kids at certain ages, I think four month was mentioned for autism. I look at every kid, all the time in developmental information, I don't think somebody told me to do that, I can understand that one. A good pediatrician that is part of the show, at each age, you should be asking questions. The problem is, sometimes kind of giving him a needle. Is he afraid at the office, and I may not know everything. So I'm getting into practice now to do video tape, all the kids taking, how the kid is interacting with the mother and the father and just just storing here. So if any question marks come down the road. We don't even remember what the kid did in four months, we get a video tape, we can look at it and say ,oh, your kid really didn't look at you. Your kid didn't have that social smile. The people, oh, my kid smiled, then they go look at it. He weren't looking at you, he was looking at close to something nearby but not you and that's a big concern, you've heard?
Henry Joseph Hasson: Yeah, it's of some concern. It is something a lot of times parents don't realize, and a lot of times parents are hopeful and they think that the baby is recognizing them even if they are not, and these are always of concern, where we would check their vision, and we would check -- if it's a social issue and exactly what the problem is.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services