Symptoms of Autism

• Impaired social interaction
  • Not responding to name
  • Not look at people
  • Not smiling - note that normal newborns do not smile for several weeks
  • Avoid eye contact
  • Not liking cuddles
  • Lack of imaginative play
  • Lack of social play
  • Inability to make friends
  • Lack stranger anxiety - this develops within the first year.
  • Lack separation anxiety - once this develops (first year), when mother departs normal infants are upset.
  • Independence - doesn't seek help or interact with others.
  • Plays alone
  • Unprovoked attacks on others
• Verbal communication problems
  • Inability to sustain conversation
  • Appears deaf at times
  • Language stereotyped
  • Repetive language
  • Unusual language
  • Not talking - many autistic infants are mute, or become mute after initially making sounds.
  • Echolalia - only parroting what they hear (many normal infants also do this).
  • Confusing pronouns - mixing up "I", "you", and "we" or similar words.
• Nonverbal communication problems
• Obsessions
  • Unusual or severely limited activities and interests
  • Repetitive movements - rocking, hair twirling
  • Inflexibility with highly specific routines and rituals
  • Overly focused attention on specific objects
  • Lines things up
• Sensory symptoms
  • Hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli - e.g. taste, sound, etc.
  • Reduced sensitivity to pain
  • Extraordinarily sensitive to sensations
  • Self-mutilation
• Early symptoms of possible autism
  • Regression - negative change from normal early development into impaired abilities; about 20% of cases have a regression
  • Delayed development - slow to speak
  • No babbling by 12 months
  • No gesturing by 12 months
  • No single words by 16 months
  • No two-word phrases by 24 months
  • Loss of language skills already acquired
  • Loss of words
  • Loss of social skills already acquired
  • Tantrums
  • Hyperactivity
• Savant abilities - rare gift of very unusual abilities in music, math or other areas