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Abstract: This article discusses the problem of early detection of deviations in the emotional-volitional (affective) sphere in children of the first years of life. The historical aspect and modern ideas about autism spectrum disorders in children are analyzed. It is emphasized that this affective disorder is very varied and individual in its manifestations. The article discusses the difficulties of early detection and assessment of autism spectrum disorders in children of the first years of life. On the one hand, this is due to the peculiarities and originality of the formation of various lines of development in the first years of life, in particular the emotional-volitional, cognitive and communicative spheres. On the other hand, there are serious differences in diagnostic approaches in the framework of foreign and domestic studies. Modern foreign diagnostic methods based on applied analysis of behavior and which are the basis for determining autistic manifestations in children at different age stages have not yet been adapted to domestic defectological practice. In Russia, there are a number of diagnostic and methodological developments, within the framework of which the most indicative early markers of affective distress were identified, systematized, and described in detail, their dynamics were analyzed during early childhood in children, until the final formation of the autism spectrum disorder syndrome. The article presents a number of unfavorable factors in the development of a young child, to which specialists and parents should pay special attention, since they indicate a pronounced disadvantage in the emotional-volitional sphere and due to which it is possible to fix the manifestations of autism spectrum disorders in children in the early stages. The author presents the results of many years of practical work with children of early and younger preschool age with autism spectrum disorders. The priority request of parents of children of early and younger preschool age with autism spectrum disorders is described when they turn to specialists in psychological and pedagogical support, which boiled down to complaints about problems in the communicative development and social interaction of young children. The author presents a methodology for assessing the level of communicative development of children of the 3-4th year of life and gives a detailed description of the communicative capabilities of children with autism spectrum disorders in the framework of three levels of communicative development.