Social-Emotional Reciprocity

• Abnormal social approach

• Failure of normal back-and-forth conversation

• Reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect

• Failure to initiate or respond to social interactions

Deficits in Nonverbal Communicative Behaviors used for Social Interaction

• Poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication

• Abnormalities win eye contact and body language

• Deficits in understanding and use of gestures

• Lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication

Deficits in Developing, Maintaining, and Understanding Relationships

• Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships

• Difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various contexts

• Difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends

• Absence of interests in peers

Stereotyped or Repetitive Motor Movements, Use of Objects, or Speech

• Simple motor stereotypies

• Lining up toys or flipping objects

• Echolalia

• Idiosyncratic phrases

Insistence on Sameness, Inflexible Adherence to Routines, or Ritualized Patterns of Verbal or Nonverbal Behavior

• Extreme distress at small changes

• Difficulties with transitions

• Rigid thinking patterns

• Greeting rituals

• Need to take some route or eat same food every day

Highly Restricted, Fixated Interests That are Abnormal in Intensity or Focus

• Strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects

• Excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests

Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment

• Apparent indifference to pain/temperature

• Adverse response to specific sounds or textures

• Excessive smelling or touching of objects

• Visual fascination with lights or movement

• The cognitive profile of those diagnosed with ASD are commonly uneven.

• For example, sometimes nonverbal skills are more developed than verbal skills

• Females tend to be more likely to show accompanying intellectual disability, which means that girls without accompanying intellectual impairments may go unrecognized

• Intelligence must be considered separate from ASD

• No intelligible speech (nonverbal)

• Single words only

• Phrase speech

• Receptive language may lag behind expressive language development in ASD

• Adaptive skills are typically below measured intelligence (IQ)

• Extreme difficulties in planning, organization, and coping with change

• Negative impacts to academic achievement

• Difficulties establishing independence because of continued rigidity and difficulty with novelty

• Poor psychosocial functioning that includes independent living and gainful employment

• Social isolation and communication problems