Despite a big jump in autism awareness in the past decade, parent, schools and docter still frequently ignore warning signs in very young children. These can be subtle: a child never point at thing, show more interest in object than people, has delayed speech and develops a fascination with spinning in place or with spinning toys. Many pediatricians dismiss these symptoms as harmless quirks that kids will outgrow. New research and experience in some autism clinics, however, suggets that staring treatment by age 2 is critical to mitigating and in some case entirely avoiding the disorder.