Examples of symptoms in each category are given below. It is important to note that though these symptoms may make your experience of life different, there can be hidden strengths in each of these symptoms if correctly channeled.
The most important thing you can do as a parent/caregiver is to understand the milestones (speech, language, motor) mentioned above and become familiar with the early signs of developmental disorders to provide essential care as soon as necessary.
The most important thing you can do as a parent/caregiver is to understand the milestones (speech, language, motor) mentioned above and become familiar with the early signs of developmental disorders to provide essential care as soon as necessary.
Social and Communication Symptoms
Autistic people tend to have difficulties understanding how to regulate their emotions, as well as difficulty understanding the feelings of others. They struggle with understanding body language and non-verbal cues that are a subtle part of social communication. Due to these difficulties with communication, they tend to find it difficult to develop and maintain social relationships. Some symptoms to look for are listed below:
-
Social and Communication Weaknesses
- Autistic persons may have no speech or inappropriate forms of speech.
- Difficulty in understanding body language, social cues, or facial expressions.
- Lack of eye contact with others.
- Difficulty in understanding and expressing your feelings, or difficulty with emotional regulation (e.g. losing your temper easily).
- Difficulty understanding how others are feeling or thinking.
- Seeming blunt, rude or uninterested without meaning to.
- Having trouble keeping up in a conversation and tending to go off on monologues on a favourite subject. Not understanding the natural give and take flow of a conversation.
- Finding it difficult to make friends.
- Being unaware of other people’s personal space, but being very upset if their own personal space is disrupted.
- Not good at teamwork, prefer solitary work or activities.
- Taking things very literally and at face value: not understanding sarcasm, jokes or metaphor.
- Lack of understanding of context/environment/space.
- Perspective taking is often a problem.
- They often lack understanding of social situations.
-
Social and Communication Strengths
- Can be taught to learn and recognise non-verbal communication cues.
- Honest and loyal; speaking directly and clearly what is on their mind.
- Very verbal, can give very good detailed instructions or descriptions.
- Less concern for what others think of them; tend to be independent thinkers and can give fresh perspectives on society due to their non conformity.
- Prefer logical thinking over emotional, and thus make rational decisions.
- Understands being told no
- Enjoys basic games like peek a boo with parents
- Attempts to imitate gestures
-
13-18 Months
- Combines gestures and voice
- Points to recognised objects
- Imitates gestures
- Expressive vocabulary 3 to 20 or more words
- Follows simple commands
- Uses echolalia and jargon (slang language used by a child)
-
19-24 Months
- Uses words more frequently than jargon
- Expressive vocabulary 50 to 100 or more words
- Receptive vocabulary 300 or more words
- Answers 'what's that’ questions
- Accurately names a few familiar objects
- Sits down on his/her own
- Enjoys play activities
-
2-3 Years
- Speech is above 50% intelligible
- Understands people talking
- Verbalizes toilet needs
- Requests items by name
- Identifies several body parts
- Receptive vocabulary 500 to 900 or more words
- Expressive vocabulary 50 to 250 or more words
- Uses words that are general in context
- Enjoys listening to short stories, songs and rhymes
- Begins developing rhythm
- Scribbles
- Has good balance
- Undresses self
-
3-4 Years
- Understands object functions
- Understands differences in meaning asks and answers simple questions (what, why, where, when)
- Uses language to express emotion
- Receptive vocabulary 1200 to 2000 or more words
- Expressive vocabulary 800 to 1500 or more words
- Increases speech rate
- Speech is 80% intelligible (understandable)
- Engages in long conversations
- Runs and plays active games
-
4-5 Years
- Uses grammatically correct sentences
- Asks for word definitions
- Speech is usually intelligible to strangers
- Receptive vocabulary above 2800 words
- Continues understanding of spatial concepts
- Pays attention to stories and answers simple questions about it
- Uses toilet independently
- Has a good grip
Existing Conditions
A main symptom of ASD is repetitive physical movements (e.g. swinging back and forth), an insistence on routine and order, very restricted interests, and a sensitivity to their environments.
However, if you have ever been diagnosed with any of the following conditions, it may also be worth checking for autism:
- Developmental delays: These may include delayed speech, hearing impairment, fine motor skills, social interactions or thinking skills.
- Narrowed or obsessive interests: Some autistic people are misdiagnosed as having OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). As children, they may have only taken interest in a very narrow set of activities.
- High intelligence: If as a child you started reading at a young age or showed other signs of high intelligence, you may have autism. This is especially true in cases where the child may have trouble communicating with others, despite these signs of intelligence.
- Sensory issues: If you currently have sensitivities to light, sound or touch, or had them as a child, you may have autism.
- Lead poisoning: Lead poisoning leads to the same kind of developmental delays and learning difficulties that autism does, and you may have been misdiagnosed with this in the past when you may have had autism.
- Childhood personality and behaviours: As children, autistic boys may be very rowdy while autistic girls tend to withdraw and seem to be better at managing social situations. Thus, it may be harder to detect autism in women. It is important to remember that these personality types must be accompanied by difficulties in social interaction and the restrictive behaviour patterns mentioned above for an autism diagnosis.
- Other psychological disorders: If you have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder it may be important to check if you are on the spectrum, since these can be common psychological disorders that accompany autism.
- Does not respond to name by 12 months
It is especially important to check for any of the psychological disorders mentioned above (i.e. ADHD, OCD, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder). These commonly accompany autism and, if left untreated, can significantly reduce your quality of life. Luckily, there have been major advances in the treatment of these disorders and the proper diagnosis is not far off. Therefore, it is important to also recognize the signs of these disorders.
Was This Page Helpful
Not Helpful
Average
Helpful