Features may start before age three.

Mainly, three areas are affected in ASD–

1. Social interaction
2. Communication
3. Restricted – repetitive behaviour

What you may see: –

Relating to people

• Avoids eye contact or seems aloof
• Resists or avoids social interaction
• May be overly shy or fussy when encouraged to interact

Imitation

• Difficulty imitating sounds, words, or actions
• Often needs repeated prompting to imitate, or may rarely imitate

Emotions:

• Expresses emotions in ways that donot match the situation (e.g. laughing or smiling without a clear context)
• Has trouble recognising or interpreting others’ emotions
• May not respond appropriately to emotional cues

Speech:

• Retardation in speech-
• Echolalia (simply repeating what is told/asked to them), pronoun reversals (says you or she/he instead of I. e.g. “You want teddy” instead of “I want teddy”).
• Use jargon excessively, unusual use of words, or fixates on specific topics
• Some may make repeated sounds rather than speaking.

Nonverbal communication:

• Cannot point or point vaguely
• Unable to use nonverbal gestures.
• Difficulty in understanding and responding to others’ nonverbal communication.

Difficulty in comprehending and responding appropriately to verbal and non-verbal communication

Difficulty adjusting behaviour according to social context

Repetitive, restricted, or stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities

Movement:

• May appear clumsy or poorly coordinated
• Shows repetitive movements (e.g., rocking, spinning, hand flapping, finger wiggling, toe walking)
• Engages in unusual body postures or self-stimulatory behaviour (e.g., picking at skin, staring at body parts)
• May hurt themselves

Object use:

• Plays with toys in unusual ways (e.g., banging, sucking, or focusing on one part of a toy, line up toys often)
• May show little interest in toys but isvery fascinated by everyday objects (e.g. fan rotating, washing machine rotating, spinning objects, wheel rotating, bin lid, utensils)
• Might prefer light reflections or spinning parts over functional use of toys

Routine:

• Strong preference for sameness in daily routines and environments
• May not adjust to even minor changes and could react and resist strongly

Vision:

• Needs a lot of prompting to look at people or objects, may avoid looking
• May stare into space or focus intensely on lights, mirrors, or small details
• Looks at objects from unusual angles or holds them very close to the eyes

Listening:

• Overreacts or underreacts to sounds
• Might cover ears in response to ordinary noises
• Easily distracted by background sounds

Taste, Smell, and Touch

• Often explores objects by mouthing, smelling, or tasting more than looking
• May smell or lick inedible items or people
• Shows unusual responses to pain—too little reaction ortoo intense a response

Fear and Safety

• Displays either a lack of fear or extreme, unmanageable fear
• Some may have difficulty recognising danger

Activity Levels

• May be extremely hyperactive or unusually inactive
• Some children may alternate between these extremes