Autism and related conditions have some common characteristics or features which are evident in the first years of life and include the following:

• Difficulty joining other people.
• Difficulty using items or toys to represent real objects.
• Over- or under-reaction to sight, sound, smell, taste, pain or touch (including being held).
• Repetitive actions or body movements.
• Unusual postures, walking or movement patterns.
• No fear of real dangers.
• Intense anxiety or unusual lack of anxiety.
• Sudden, unexplained, distress or fear. Problems coping with change; dependency on parts of routines.
• Unusual or inappropriate habits or interests.
• Focus on moving or spinning objects.
• Laughing, giggling or screaming at unusual times.
• Difficulty imitating gross or fine motor movements.
• Intense or unusual activity level.
• Unusual sleep patterns.

• Inability to express need or interest.
• Indicating needs with gestures (sometimes unusual) instead of words.
• Difficulty imitating sounds and words.
• Loss of or delay in developing spoken language.
• Difficulty using speech in a meaningful way.
• Rarely initiates communication.
• Repeating words or phrases heard previously.
• Confusing gender (he, she) and pronouns (I, me, you) in speech.
• Unusual pitch and rhythm in speech.
• Unusual or lack of eye contact.
• Unusual or lack of facial expression.
• Difficulty interacting with other people (responding back and forth, turn-taking), making friends, and understanding others.
• Difficulty controlling emotion and excitement.

• Difficulty paying attention.
• Difficulty shifting attention (stuck on an idea or action).
• Difficulty sharing attention with others.
• Difficulty understanding abstract ideas.
• Difficulty grasping time and order of events.
• Thoughts and actions may appear illogical.
• Strong memory and sense of direction.
• May not benefit from typical teaching methods.