Quote (Cyba @ Fri, May 29 2009, 07:47pm)
* Social interactions and relationships. Symptoms may include:
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Significant problems developing nonverbal communication skills, such as eye-to-eye gazing, facial expressions, and body posture. o Failure to establish friendships with children the same age.
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Lack of interest in sharing enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people. o
Lack of empathy. People with autism may have difficulty understanding another person's feelings, such as pain or sorrow. * Verbal and nonverbal communication. Symptoms may include:
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Delay in, or lack of, learning to talk. As many as 40% of people with autism never speak.1 o
Problems taking steps to start a conversation. Also, people with autism have difficulties continuing a conversation after it has begun. o Stereotyped and repetitive use of language. People with autism often repeat over and over a phrase they have heard previously (echolalia).
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Difficulty understanding their listener's perspective. For example, a person with autism may not understand that someone is using humor. They may interpret the communication word for word and fail to catch the implied meaning. * Limited interests in activities or play. Symptoms may include:
o An unusual focus on pieces. Younger children with autism often focus on parts of toys, such as the wheels on a car, rather than playing with the entire toy.
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Preoccupation with certain topics. For example, older children and adults may be fascinated by video games, trading cards, or license plates. o A need for sameness and routines. For example, a child with autism may always need to eat bread before salad and insist on driving the same route every day to school.
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Stereotyped behaviors. These may include body rocking and hand flapping.imo at least