Emotions
Rage/anger/hurt may all be expressed in unexpected ways
Perfectionism
Easily overstimulated by sound, crowds, lights, smells
Inside feeling not matching outside behavior
Motor Skills
Difficulty with some skills requiring motor skill development
Gross motor skills - riding bike, swimming, crawling
Fine motor skills - handwriting, tying shoes
May have some advanced, age-appropriate skills while other age-appropriate skills are delayed, i.e., tying shoes before climbing stairs
Unusual walking gait or clumsiness
Difficulty with motor skills that require visual perception accuracy, i.e., walking through a parking lot, revolving door or turnstiles, participating in sports, guiding a shopping cart
Language
Pronoun reversal
Excellent vocabulary; may sound like "The Little Professor"
Conversational language may appear stilted
Speaks with stock phrases or phrases borrowed from other situations or people
Makes honest, but often inappropriate observations
Has difficulties adjusting volume and speed in speech
Problems with prosody; irregular accenting and inflection used in conversation
Literal language: difficulty understanding figures of speech, similes, parodies, allegories, etc.
Speech may have started very early in development or may have started then stopped for a period of time
Repeats last word or phrases several times (echolalia)
Difficulty understanding some language, i.e., directional terms easily confused
Perseveration - Continued or repetitive activity or actions:
1. the uncontrollable repetition of a word, phrase, or gesture.
2. The spontaneous recurrence of a thought, image, phrase, or tune in the mind
Obsession - the fact or state of being obsessed with an idea, desire, emotion, etc.
Compulsions - an irresistible, repeated, irrational impulse to perform some act
Fascination with rotation
Many and varied collections
Redirection very difficult (changing focus or thinking from one activity or idea to another)
One emotional incident can determine the mood for the rest of the day; can't let emotions pass quickly
Social Cues
Difficulty reading facial expression and emotion in another person
Difficulty understanding body language
Difficulty understanding the rules of conversation
Difficulty understanding group interactions
Too much or too little eye contact
Difficulty understanding others' humor
Problems recognizing faces out of the usual setting or known context (face-blindness or prosopagnosia)
Stand-offish or overly friendly
May adopt others' behaviors, speech or dress habits to aid in more fluid communication and social adaptation
Senses
Very sensitive or undersensitive to light, pain, taste, touch, sound, smell
May have injuries of which they are not aware
May experience physical pain from oversensitivity to light, sound, touch
Very picky eater, both in selections of foods and in the way they are presented on the plate
May crave specific touch, taste, smell, sight, sound, lights
Over-sensitive to change in surroundings, people, places
Over stimulation may result from too many verbal directions or instructions
Comfort Skills
Desires comfort items to produce calming effect - blankets, stuffed animals
May need external (outside) stimulation for calming - brushing, soothing sound, rotating object
Comforted by minor motor stimulations - rocking, humming, tapping fingers, toes, sucking, rubbing fingertips in circles or on seams of clothing
May need separate space or area to decompress
Unusual attachment to object
Self-stimulation i.e., rocking, tapping, humming, etc.,to increase concentration and attention or to calm down and relax
Neurological Function
Erratic neurological function
Attention difficulties
Irregular sleep patterns
Understanding and working with time concepts difficult
Sensory processing disorders (how the brain processes information it receives from the sensory organs)
Visual processing disorders
Auditory processing disorders
Sensory integration disorders
New Situations, Patterns, People
Rule-oriented
Prefers known patterns with little unexpected surprises
Prefers familiar places, clothing, people
Difficulty with transitions when changing activities
Difficulty making and maintaining friendships (especially peer friendships); more successful with adults than other children or young people
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