challenges with social communication and interaction,restricted and repetitive behaviors or interests, and sensory differences. These symptoms manifest in varying ways across individuals, affecting daily life and interaction with the environment.
Challenges with Social Communication and Interaction
This category involves difficulties in the way individuals communicate and relate to others. Manifestations include:
- Challenges with understanding and using **nonverbal communication**, such as eye contact, facial expressions, or body language.
- Trouble developing, maintaining, and understanding **relationships**.
- Difficulty with the **social side of communication** (social reciprocity), such as maintaining a back-and-forth conversation or turn-taking.
Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors or Interests
This set of symptoms involves specific patterns of behavior, activities, and interests that are intense, rigid, or repetitive:
- **Repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech**, such as hand-flapping, spinning objects, or echoing words (echolalia).
- An **insistence on sameness**, which includes an extreme adherence to rigid routines and resistance to changes in environment or schedule.
- **Fixation on specific objects or activities** with an unusual intensity or focus, often collecting or deeply engaging with a narrow topic.
Sensory Differences
Individuals with ASD often experience the world through heightened or diminished sensory perceptions:
- Being **overly or under-sensitive** (hypersensitive or hyposensitive) to sensory input, such as light, sound, touch, or taste.
- **Aversion to certain foods or textures**, or conversely, a **fascination with specific sensory details** like the way light reflects or watching the spinning wheels of a toy.
