Ten Signs to Look For When You Suspect Autism

Ten Signs to Look For

There are several signs to look for when suspecting that someone might have autism. Aside from perceived social impairment, many people on the autism spectrum have certain characteristics that are unique to those with the “disorder.” Please keep in mind that someone might have all of the these traits or just a handful. We will go through each of these characteristics one by one and see how they impact someone on the autism spectrum. I have used personal examples from my life to help shed some light on these signs.

1. Lack of eye contact—Many individuals with autism find eye contact hard to accomplish. For me growing up, looking into another person's eyes felt as if that person was tearing into my soul, and it was very exhausting.

2. Lack-of-interest in playing with other kids—For the most part, I didn't care much about other kids. I saw them as an object for my own amusement like the television or my G.I. Joe action figures. I believe the reason that many people on the autism spectrum don't desire friendships is we don't see the point to them.

3. Delay in speech—I mumbled a lot when I was younger. This continued until the end of elementary school. Sometimes, I mumbled because I thought that was how a word was said, or I feared saying the word wrong and didn't want to get caught or appear stupid to everyone else. To be honest, I'm not sure why speech delays happen in people with autism, but for me conveying speech was a challenge. I just didn't understand that words had meaning behind them. I thought people just made a bunch of weird sounds. The part of my brain that saw patterns in speech took time to develop. This may also have also been the reason it took me so long to learn how to read.

4. Stimming—Stimming means self-stimulation. Many people with autism tend to flap their hands for engaged periods of time, re-watch select scenes from videos, repeat certain words over and over, among many other repetitive behaviors. For me, the biggest reason I stim is because it makes me feel great. Stimming can be one of the best feelings in the world for someone on the autism spectrum.

5. No desire to be cuddled or hugged—As a child, I found hugs to be intrusive. Any touch made me feel icky and still to this day I dislike touch unless I am in an intimate relationship with someone. I think for some people on the autism spectrum that touch can be seen as an invasion of personal space.

6. Intense Obsessions—As a child growing up, I was obsessed with the G.I. Joe action figures and animated series. G.I. Joe was my world. I didn’t care about anything else. For many people with autism, their obsessions tend to be the most important thing in the world.

7. Delayed Reactions—Oftentimes, people with autism are unable to respond to something the moment it occurs. For me, this is common in social situations where a conversation topic comes up that I have never encountered before. This may lead to me responding in a certain way that is not appropriate to the situation. Many other people with autism have this delayed reaction phenomenon.

8. Constant tantrums for no apparent reason—Tantrums and other such behaviors commonly occur for many people on the spectrum. Sometimes, these tantrums can last for hours at a time and seem impossible to stop. For me, these tantrums were often caused by being overwhelmed by too much stimulation in my environment, or by something that caused me to feel violated. An example of such a violation would be someone changing a routine or moving items that were in a certain order. On a few occasions, I almost killed my brother for moving my G.I. Joe toys. Though, my murder attempts never proud successful.

9. High levels of constant anxiety—Extreme anxiety is common for many people on the autism spectrum. Anxiety is often caused by social situations, unexpected changes, over-flooding the senses with loud noises, overwhelming smells, or other forms of stimulus. Growing up, I felt overwhelmed by many things in life and felt anxiety for hours at a time.

10. A need for structure and extreme reactions to any change in the environment—Structure is very important for many of us on the autism spectrum. We need the same routines, same food, and same placement of our items. Any change to this structure can cause us anxiety and can lead to a breakdown. Growing up, I had to have my G.I. Joe action figures lined up a certain way and had to have all of my items in order. I would feel tremendous anxiety if my toys and other collectibles were out of place.