Characteristics of Children with Autism

Autism is a spectrum disorder, and symptoms and characteristics of autism can present themselves in a variety of combinations, from mild to severe. Although autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors, children can exhibit any combination of these behaviors in varying degrees of severity.

In our experience, we believe many children with autism exhibit the following strengths:

strong visual processing
ability to solve puzzles
ability to be decode words (often self-taught)
Ability to make sense of the world through their visual surroundings (often enhanced by visual materials)
fascination with books and magazines
extremely interested in electronic screen media (TV, games, monitors)*

It is interesting to note that in a recent survey, we found many children with autism spend more time with media than they do with all other forms of play combined.

Children with autism may also exhibit a difficulty:

in shared interests
paying attention to what you want them to
understanding language (spoken and written)
with social conventions
viewing the perspective of another person
expressing and interpreting emotion
with obsessive and compulsive behavior patterns

It should also be noted that 50% of children with autism do not talk. Most are late talkers, and some often lose previously acquired language skills.

There are, however, many misconceptions about autism. Some believe that if a child does not learn to talk by age 7, they will not talk at all. We do not believe that.

Autism Language Program