IT is a question I find myself asking more often; where have all the words gone.

In my clinical practice over the past few years, I have noticed a disturbing trend.

Children sometimes as young as one year old are not speaking.

They do not respond to their names, they avoid eye contact, they scream when things do not go their way and some seem to live in their own bubble, detached from the world around them.

Concerned parents bring them in, worried that something is seriously wrong.

Honestly, they’re not wrong but the culprit often isn’t a neurological disorder or a genetic condition.

It’s something much more modern, more common and sadly, more preventable.

Screens.

That innocent-looking mobile phone or tablet often handed over with the best intentions has quietly taken over the role of babysitter, playmate and sometimes-even parent and we’re paying the price for it.

What we’re seeing is not classic autism, but what researchers and clinicians have started calling virtual autism a developmental delay caused by........

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