High Contrast
Social interaction
What might be common characteristics of Autism regarding social interaction?
- Avoiding eye contact
- Differences reading or displaying emotion
- Preference for own company/spending majority of time alone
- Challenges with the ability to read social cues, find difficult to initiate, maintain or conclude conversation
- Difficulty with turn-taking in conversation – tendency to speak only about own interests, not answer questions or interrupt
- Difficulty with interacting with people on a group basis. Discomfort in social gatherings such as parties
- Tendency to socialise through interests i.e. membership of a club
- Need for consistency in social situations i.e. games must always be played by the same rules, inability to cope with unexpected events in a social situation (person arriving who was not expected), learning some lines of conversation which can be inserted into specific social situation.
Communication
Common Characteristics of Autism: How to autistic people communicate with others
- Either pre-verbal, limited verbal or highly verbal
- Problems with word finding
- Unusual use of words/different understanding of vocabulary
- Tendency to take phrases/idioms literally
- Tendency to speak in monotone tone of voice or an unusual accent/voice experimentation
- May not use or understand facial expressions
- May not use or conform to basic sense of humour
- Find it difficult to articulate frustrations/causes of upset
Behaviour
Common Characteristics of Autism: How do autistic people behave?
- Requires routine and certainty in day-to-day life – can become distressed at breakdown in routine
- May have “meltdowns” if routine is disrupted, surroundings are difficult or if they are struggling to communicate their frustrations
- Unconventional play – collecting objects, sorting, colour coding or lining up are classic examples. (Need for predictability)
- Determination to win or come 1st in games. Habit of interrupting others’ turns.
- May have a special interest or obsessive topic to which they wish to study, talk about, play with all the time
- Daydreaming or floating/walking around without purpose
- May be very hyperactive
- Tendency to run, jump, move erratically or flap hands (linked to sensory processing)
Sensory Processing
Common Characteristics of Autism: How does autism effect taste, touch, smell, sound and sight?
- Struggle with/cannot bear certain sounds, smells or textures.
- Equally may be attracted to others and may have favourite texture, sound, smell.
- May eat only very specific food
- Find open spaces hard to process. Manage better in enclosed surroundings
- May use voice experimentation
- High pain threshold
Strengths
Common Characteristics of Autism: What are autistic people’s strengths? While this list is by no means universal and will vary depending on the person, autistic people often display the following characteristics.
- Intense and highly focused interests which can be channelled into lifelong passions such as music, drawing or environmentalism
- Detail oriented
- Intense focus when engaged in a task
- Strong memory
- Honesty
- Loyalty
