These Are the Common Signs and Symptoms of Autism

Symptoms vary among individuals with autism spectrum disorder, also commonly referred to as ASD, or just autism, the neurological and developmental disorder that can cause problems with communication, social skills, and other behaviors. Whether or not certain problems occur can depend on the individual and the severity of the disorder. Symptoms can also appear at different ages for some compared with others, but in most cases symptoms of autism start to show up before age 3. (1)

Here are some of the warning signs to be on the lookout for that could indicate someone has自闭症。Note that the warning signs and symptoms are different for young children, older children, and成年人 - 可能有自闭症, but whose disorder may have been ignored or misdiagnosed earlier in life.

Symptoms of autism in babies and toddlers are usually delays in learning, developing language, and communication skills, or behavioral problems. Common early warning signs are difficulty responding to one’s name when they are addressed and lack of eye contact, explainsThomas Frazier II, PhD, chief scientist at Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organization.

婴儿和幼儿未能参加共享经验，比如观察一个物体或者在他们周围的每个人都要注意，弗拉齐尔博士说。例如，如果你把孩子带到动物园，他看着你所指出的狮子，但不一定回顾你，承认他正在寻求的东西，并不分享在目前的联合体验中。

拥有自闭症谱系障碍的儿童也可能表现出非常具体的，有时强烈，兴趣其他人可能不会的主题，增加Jeremy Veenstra-Vanderweele, MD纽约市哥伦比亚大学医师和外科医院的儿童和青少年精神病学总监。在一次谈话中，一个有自闭症的孩子可能会一遍又一遍地返回一个主题。这是一个孩子的案例，弗朗斯特拉 - 韦德尔德博士与鲨鱼有很强的兴趣，没有谈论任何其他话题。

Repetitive behaviors or following the same patterns over and over can also be indicative of an autism spectrum disorder.

“A lot of these kids display ritualistic behaviors. Certain things have to happen the same way each time,” Veenstra-Vanderweele says. “They might only feel comfortable in your car going the same way to school every day, for instance.”

可以表明婴儿或幼儿具有自闭症的其他迹象包括：（2)

• 无论是对别人的微笑还是明确到6个月
• Not making vocal sounds or other nonverbal communication by 6 months
• 没有开始唠叨，使用手势沟通，或者在1岁时拨打他们的名字
• Not speaking any words by about 16 months
• Not speaking in phrases by age 2
• Losing previously acquired speech, communication, or social skills

Other potential signs of autism at any age include:

• Avoiding eye contact or preferring to be alone
• Struggling to understand others’ feelings
• Not speaking or having trouble developing language skills
• Repeating words or phrases over and over
• 在一个人的日常或周围环境中受到微小的变化感到沮丧
• Having limited interests
• Performing repetitive behaviors or gestures
• Having unusual or intense reactions to sounds, smells, tastes, textures, lights, or colors

值得注意的是，并非所有有自闭症的儿童都将展现所有这些行为。有些孩子将开始显示比其他人的疾病的迹象。例如，具有罕见儿童分解障碍（CDD）或“Heller综合征”的儿童通常在3或4岁之前发展，然后开始失去他们已经学到的运动，语言，社会和其他技能。（3)

This disorder was reclassified to be on the spectrum of autism disorders, according to themost recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association in 2013. (4)

Some individuals with autism fall on the high-functioning end of the spectrum. These individuals typically have very high levels of intelligence and don’t tend to have trouble with language, but they may struggle with social skills, exhibit repetitive behaviors, and have limited interests.

根据2013年DSM-5，这种诊断预先认为是Asperger的综合征，但现在被认为是自闭症谱的疾病。（5)

Some of the behaviors to look for include:

• Having limited or inappropriate social interactions
• 以重复或“机器人”模式说话
• Challenges with nonverbal communication, such as gestures and facial expressions, but having no problems or above-average verbal skills
• 倾向于讨论自己而不是其他人
• The inability to understand social or emotional issues
• Lack of eye contact during conversation
• Inability to reciprocate in a conversation
• Showing an obsession with specific (and oftentimes unusual) topics
• Having one-sided conversations
• Having awkward moments or mannerisms

It’s important to note not everyone with the condition will have all of these problems, and some may experience the problems to greater degrees than others.

It’s not unusual for this type of autism to be diagnosed later in adolescence or adulthood, because some of the telltale signs of the disorder aren’t apparent until the individual is in an environment where they would be more noticeable, such as in a school or office setting.

自闭症是4.5倍普遍比gi男孩rls. But it’s important to realize that autism symptoms differ in boys and girls, and some recent research suggests that lack of understanding of the differences may have left many girls with autism misdiagnosed and undertreated.

One study that looked at girls and boys who met ASD criteria and compared them with those who individuals who were screened for autism, but not diagnosed, found that the girls with autism displayed more severe symptoms when it came to intellectual level and behavioral difficulties, yet similar scores to their peers who were not diagnosed with autism when it came to other criteria used for诊断。（6) The research suggests that girls with milder autism may go undetected by current tests used to identify the disorder.

Another study published in August 2017 in the journalAutismsuggests emotional and behavioral symptoms may be more prominent in girls with autism than boys, and that repetitive and restrictive behavior symptoms may be more common in boys with the disorder. (7）另一项研究，于2015年9月在2015年期刊上发布分子自闭症,发现与紊乱的男孩相比，患有自闭症的女孩的大脑可能存在生物差异。

"Autism has primarily been studied from the viewpoint of boys with the disorder," Vinod Menon, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine in California and senior author of the 2015分子自闭症study, said in a press release when the research was first published. "Understanding gender differences can help in identifying the behavioral skills that are most important to remediate in girls vis-à-vis boys."

Autism does not develop in adulthood, but in some cases the disorder is misdiagnosed or not diagnosed in childhood. People who are now adults grew up in a time when autism was less understood and studied, and early warning signs may have been ignored. (8,9aut)得到一个准确ism diagnosis as an adult can be helpful.

Still, the disease can be difficult to diagnose in previously undiagnosed adults, because autism is so variable and may affect people in different ways over time, explains Veenstra-Vanderweele. There are no specific criteria doctors can use to diagnose autism in adults, but healthcare providers might ask whether you’ve experienced challenges in social interactions at home, at school, or at work, and whether you can remember specific learning challenges at a young age that are typical in autism.（10)

如果您是未确诊的自闭症的成年人，潜在于上学，潜在持有一份工作，独立导航的社交场合，您就有很大的机会，您已经开发了您在世界上应对的资源，而不会治疗任何类型。