What are common characteristics of autism spectrum disorders?
• Difficulty understanding language. • Poorly developed social skills and unusual play with toys. • Over or under sensitivity to sound, sight, taste, touch, or smell. • Repetitive behaviors such as spinning objects or rocking. • Certain behaviors exhibited to stimulate the senses, such as switching a light on and off repeatedly or humming loudly. • Difficulty with changes to surroundings or routines. • Very high levels of activity for long periods of time. • Uneven skill development. Some skills are normal or superior for their age while others show significant delay. • Challenging behaviors such as aggression, self injury, or withdrawal. From CARD FactSheet How is autism diagnosed? A comprehensive evaluation is required to diagnoses autism spectrum disorders, including in-depth measures of cognitive functioning, adaptive behavior, autism diagnostic tools (i.e., ADI-R and ADOS), behavioral observations, and sometimes neuropsychological and speech and language evaluations. Diagnosis is
