What are autism symptoms?

Learn about autism signs and symptoms

Autism symptoms include social difficulties, repetitive behavior and communication problems, among other signs. Learn about autism symptoms.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 3.4 in every 1,000 children between the ages of 3 and 10 have autism. Children can be diagnosed with autism as early as age 1, and most diagnoses are reliably made by age 3. Parents are usually the first to notice autism symptoms in their children. The autism symptoms exhibited in these children can vary widely, but they generally fall into three categories: social difficulties, repetitive behavior and communication problems.

Social Difficulties

Interacting with others is difficult for people with autism, and symptoms of these social difficulties can be seen very early in life. Children around age 1 who don't make eye contact, don't imitate behaviors (including games and speech) and don't seem to want to interact with others may be exhibiting autism symptoms. As children with autism grow older, they may have difficulty sharing their toys with other children, playing interactive games, hugging or making eye contact. Autistic children often seem to want to be alone rather than interact with others; as a result, they can have difficulty making friends.

Repetitive Behavior

A second main category of autism symptoms is repetitive or obsessive behavior. Children with autism often repeat a movement like rocking, twirling or moving arms and legs. Other children may repeatedly bite or hit themselves. These repeated behaviors are known as "self-stimulation." Repetitive behavior can also take the form of obsessive play (for example, carefully arranging a group of toys rather than playing with them, and then becoming agitated if one of the toys is moved out of place) and strict, almost compulsive, adherence to daily routines. People with autism often exhibit a narrow interest in a single subject and learn about it with great intensity.

Communication Problems

People with autism have a wide range of speech abilities. Some are able to hold a conversation quite normally, while others have difficulty responding. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 40 percent of children with autism (including all types of autism within autism spectrum disorder) do not speak at all. Others may develop a limited vocabulary or start to speak later in life than most children. Many children with autism may simply repeat back what is said to them, a condition known as echolalia, while others repeat a single word over and over.

Non-verbal communication can also present challenges for people with autism. Often, their body language, facial expressions or tone of voice doesn't seem to match what they are trying to say. Likewise, people with autism find it hard to interpret the body language or tones of others. Many people with autism don't understand sarcasm because they can't pick up on the verbal or physical cues that the intended meaning of a phrase is different from the literal meaning.

Other Autism Symptoms

In addition to other symptoms, people with autism may have a lowered sensitivity to pain but an intense sensitivity to stimuli like light or sound. About one in four children with autism will develop seizures, even though the episodes may not be a symptom of autism, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Other related conditions include fragile X syndrome, aggressive behavior, short attention spans and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

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