Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autistic children and young people can find communicating with other people hard. It can be difficult for them to express themselves in a way other people will understand. Some autistic people may need to learn how to communicate.

Some autistic children and young people may use a word and then ‘lose’ it. ‘Losing’ words is the term often used when someone does not use the words again. This is often part of an unusual or disordered pattern of language development.

Some autistic children and young people may not want to socialise or communicate with others. They may not want to have a friendly little chat or take part in small talk. They may only want to communicate if they want or need something. They may also not feel the need to tell other people information.

It can be hard for some autistic children and young people to understand what is happening around them. They may not understand words or the words don’t mean anything to them. They may use words out of context without explanation or trying to communicate.

Some autistic children and young people may repeat words that other people say. This can be immediately after it’s said or later on when they feel comfortable. This is known as echolalia. It can be from face-to-face social interactions or from listening to media such as a TV show or song on the radio.

Autistic children and young people may:

• Develop their speech slower than other children, also known as delayed speech development
• Develop their speech in an usual way, also known as disordered speech development
• DLD – Delayed Language Disorder – comorbidity
• Not develop speech at all
• Be able to say words before understanding them
• Talk at people, rather than to them
• Not respond when spoken to
• Not understand or use gestures

Autistic children and young people can find socialising hard, and some autistic people may need to learn social skills.

Social cues and behaviours can be hard for autistic children and young people. They can find it hard to read other people’s nonverbal messages like facial expressions and emotions. For example, they may not realise they are upsetting you until you shout at them. You may be showing all the behaviours of getting upset, but they may not know how to read those behaviours. This can make it harder for them to understand other people. It can also make other children and young people seem unpredictable and scary.

It’s also hard for autistic people to understand unspoken rules of behaviour. A common difficulty for autistic children and young people is eye contact. Some ways eye contact can be difficult include:

• Not using eye contact at all when communicating
• Using too much eye contact which can feel intense and intimidating to other people
• Using eye contact in a way that doesn’t match what they are saying or their facial expression

Some autistic children and young people may love being around people. They enjoy playing with other children. But they may not understand other people’s reactions and responses.

Autistic children and young people may:

• Find it hard to understand someone else’s perspective or point of view
• Find it hard to predict what other people are going to do
• Relate better to adults than children or young people their age
• Look like they relate to objects better than people
• Prefer to do activities on their own
• Not want to be comforted when they’re hurt or upset
• Not understand unspoken social rules and conventions

Rigid thinking is also known as literal thinking, inflexible thinking or concrete thinking. It’s often described as thinking in ‘black and white’.

Rigid thinking is when someone thinks in a literal or absolute way. This makes it harder for them to adapt to changes and unpredictable situations.

Autistic children and young people often think in a rigid way. They may find routines and patterns they can control comforting. Changes to their routines or new experiences can be upsetting and overwhelming. This can cause outbursts or meltdowns.

Some autistic children and young people may try to avoid new places and experiences.

Autistic children and young people with rigid thinking may:

• Get upset if a familiar routine is changes
• Force their routine onto other people
• Avoid new experiences like trying different foods or wearing new clothes
• Appear to be okay with a situation but overreact to small issues
• Find it hard to change how they do a task or activity
• Find it hard to move from one task to another
• Pay close attention to details but miss the bigger picture
• Autistic people often thrive with structure and clear routines

Some autistic children and young people can have difficulties expressing or showing their imagination to other people. This doesn’t mean that autistic people don’t have any imagination. It may just be harder for them to communicate their imaginary world to other people.

There are different ways that this can look:

• Lack of interest in what a toy is or what the toy represents. Some autistic children and young people are more interested in the features of the toy like the wheels on a toy car or the box the toy car came in.
• Play with a toy without acting out a scene or story. They may move the toy car in and out of a garage but don’t act out any stories.
• Acting out stories or characters from books or videos. These recreations will be the same every time.
• Having a vivid imaginary life but unable to share it or communicate it clearly to others. They know what is real and what is imaginary, but they struggle to communicate this to other people.

Repetitive behaviours or self-stimulating behaviours are often referred to as stimming. These are actions and behaviours give your child or young person some kind of stimulation. Stimming can look like:

• Chewing the inside of their cheek
• Hand flapping
• Lining up objects or toys in order
• Making repetitive noises or sounds
• Repeating sounds or phrases
• Rocking
• Spinning
• Tapping their fingers
• Toe walking
• Twisting or chewing on their hair

Stimming is unique to each child or young person. They may prefer certain movements or actions. Some stims are harder to spot like tapping their fingers or chewing their cheek.

Autistic children and young people can stim for lots of different reasons such as:

• Helping them to calm down in stressful situations
• Showing their excitement
• They enjoy the action or movement, and it makes them happy
• They want to feel the movement

Some autistic children and young people will try to only stim in ‘safe’ environments like at home.

Everyone has favourite things such as games, films, and toys. Autistic children and young people will develop interests in a way that can look obsessive. These intense interests are usually referred to as special interests. Special interests can be the most important thing in your child or young person’s life.

It’s typical for autistic children and young people to have one special interest at a time. Special interests can change and grow as your child or young person develops and experiences more. Sometimes special interests can interfere with learning or daily activities. They can also be used to help you talk and connect with your child or young person. You can also use special interests to help motivate your child or young person to do tasks by theming tasks around their special interest.

Special interests are unique to your child or young person. The interest can be anything from a common childhood interest to a very unusual topic. Examples of common special interests in autistic children and young people include:

• Alphabet or counting
• Animals
• Art
• Astronomy
• Cars and vehicles
• Cartoon characters
• Collecting sets of toys
• Computer games
• Gardening
• History
• Soft toys, stuffed toys
• Trains and Thomas the Tank Engine
• Maps and routes
• Music
• Mythology

From the outside, some people may think your child or young person’s special interest is boring or pointless. This does not matter. Your autistic child or young person will be having a unique and joyful experience with their special interest.

Special interests can:

• Reduce anxiety
• Help your child feel calm
• Be used to avoid other activities or tasks
• Give your child or young person a sense of satisfaction
• Make your child or young person very happy

Having special interests is not a bad thing. There are many famous autistic people have developed successful careers from their special interests such as Chris Packham whose special interest is wildlife or Temple Grandin whose special interest is horses.