Every individual with autism is unique, and their experiences and symptoms can vary widely. However, there are some common characteristics often associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Three main symptoms typically observed in individuals with autism include:
Social Challenges: Difficulty in understanding and engaging in social interactions is a hallmark of autism. This may manifest as trouble with nonverbal communication cues such as eye contact, facial expressions, and body language.
Some individuals with autism may struggle to initiate or maintain conversations and may prefer solitary activities over socializing.
Read: Can autism be detected during pregnancy?
Communication Difficulties: Many individuals with autism have challenges with verbal and nonverbal communication. Some may have delayed speech development or may not speak at all. Others may have a rich vocabulary but struggle with the pragmatic aspects of language, such as understanding sarcasm or idiomatic expressions.
Difficulty in understanding and using gestures, tone of voice, and facial expressions is also common.
Repetitive Behaviors and Restricted Interests:
People with autism often engage in repetitive behaviours or have highly focused interests. This can include repetitive movements like hand-flapping or rocking, insistence on sameness or routines, and intense preoccupation with specific topics or objects.
These repetitive behaviours and narrow interests may interfere with everyday functioning and social interactions.
However, those who are not fully aware often fail to recognize autism symptoms, even if they are odd ones. Let’s understand these symptoms in detail.
What kind of repetitive behaviour do people with autism have?
People with autism might do things over and over again, and these actions are called repetitive behaviours. Here are some common ones:
Hand-flapping or Rocking:
Some people with autism might flap their hands, shake their legs, or rock back and forth. It’s like they’re moving in a rhythmic way to comfort themselves or express excitement.
Repeating Words or Phrases: They might repeat the same words or phrases, even if it doesn’t seem necessary. For example, they could say “hello” multiple times or repeat a line from a favourite movie.
Fixation on Routines:
People with autism might like sticking to routines. They want things to happen the same way every time. For instance, they might insist on eating the same food for breakfast every day or following a specific bedtime routine.
Focusing on Specific Interests:
They often have strong interests in certain topics and spend a lot of time talking about or learning about them. For example, someone might be obsessed with trains and talk about them constantly or memorize train schedules.
Lining Up Objects:
Some individuals with autism might arrange objects in a particular order repeatedly, like lining up toys or arranging items by colour or size.
Here are some more things that children with autism might indulge in:
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may engage in a variety of repetitive behaviors. These behaviors are often called “stimming” (short for self-stimulatory behavior) and serve different purposes for different individuals.
Read: Autism symptoms in toddlers
Here are some common types of repetitive behaviors seen in children with autism:
- Hand-flapping: Rapidly waving or shaking the hands, often in a rhythmic motion.
Rocking: Swaying back and forth or rocking the body while sitting, standing, or lying down. - Spinning: Rotating the body or objects, such as spinning in circles or spinning toys.
- Repeating Words or Phrases (Echolalia): Parroting words or phrases heard previously, either immediately after hearing them or at a later time.
- Finger-flicking or Finger-tapping: Rapidly tapping fingers together or against objects, often in a repetitive pattern.
- Repetitive Vocalizations: Making repeated sounds, such as humming, grunting, or making noises with the mouth.
- Line-up or Arrangement of Objects: Organizing objects in a specific order or line, and becoming upset if the arrangement is disturbed.
- Repetitive Body Movements: Other repetitive body movements, such as head-banging, body rocking, or pacing.
- Fixation on Specific Objects or Topics: Intense focus on particular objects or topics, sometimes to the exclusion of other activities or interests.
- Tapping or Poking: Tapping or poking objects or surfaces repeatedly with fingers or other body parts.
- Repetitive Play Patterns: Engaging in the same play activities or sequences over and over again, without variation.
- Mouthing or Chewing Objects: Putting objects into the mouth or chewing on non-food items.
Remember, an individual with autism might have completely different set of symptoms as well.
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