Traits of the Autism Spectrum
1. OCD-like tendencies - These symptoms are on a spectrum of their own within ASDs. They can include full-blown OCD issues or milder, undiagnosable symptoms such as preference for routine, difficulty with change, repetitive thought processes, and compulsions which may fall short of the full OCD criteria.
2. Anxiety issues - The anxiety can vary wildly from sudden panic attacks to more specific phobias. Social Phobia is a common comorbid, or even a sub-diagnosable social uneasiness.
3. Obsessions - Despite that the DSM and many books imply an autistic person is usually only obsessed with one thing at a given time, the focus should be on the level of the obsession (no matter its duration, what is the quality of its intensity?) and/or whether it is an unusual interest; not the number of obsessions. Also, the duration can be longstanding (years) or even as brief as a single afternoon. The focus should instead be on the intensity and/or abnormality of the obsession, itself, and not the number or duration. ADHD symptoms can often make obsessional interests last shorter than “stereotypical”.
4. Self-stimulatory behaviors - In some autistic individuals, this symptom is very extreme; in others, it may be subtle or even solely done in private. Stimulatory behaviors are common to all humans; however, autistics tend to stim more frequently and perhaps may or may not inhibit their stimulatory behavior simply due to social convention. Stimulatory behaviors (or rather an increase in these behaviors) is often triggered by a non-homeostatic emotional state (i.e., anxiety or excitement). However, stimming can also be a sensory-exploration and not simply a method of anxious calming.
5. Hyper- and Hypo-sensory issues - These can involve any of the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, vestibular system (balance), proprioception (joint awareness; limb awareness), exteroception (skin awareness), and interoception (awareness of the inner body: organs such as stomach, bladder, bowel movements, etc.). Vestibular abnormalities, proprioception, exteroception, and interoception all seems to be fairly constant in abnormal functioning (when there is a deficit); however, the level of sensitivity of the five main senses can many times be contingent upon anxiety levels. Many autistics experience a consistent abnormality in several of these senses, but level of severity (i.e., an increase in discomfort) can be effected by anxiety levels.
6. Coordination and balance - Each of these areas can be effected. These areas are usually constant in nature and not quite as vulnerable to shifts in functioning.
7. Executive Dysfunction - Autistics can have varying levels and combinations of EDF. Most have issues with multitasking even to the point that looking and listening can be a difficult task. Social multitasking can be an issue. Common ADHD symptoms are most often noted if not full-blown ADHD. Within this, attentional problems, organization, multitasking, and goal-oriented planning and carrying out of these plans can all be effected. Although each autistic will show varying levels of severity.
8. Language - For some autistics, language can be impaired as severely as a complete inability to communicate verbally (either due to a larger language issue or just verbal motor apraxia). For others, language can be less noticeably affected. Prosody may be effected. Some autistics may exhibit monotonic speech, others may prefer to do voices, others still may have an unusual way with words. But this does not discount autistics who, through years of learning, have also come to blend fairly well, language-wise, into the world.
9. Social Issues - This is the symptom which is often most obvious to onlookers or during interaction and the reason Autistic Spectrum Disorders have mistakenly been called “social disorders”. Issues in this area can range from very severe to very mild. Most autistics have difficulty in this area, although, as just stated, these difficulties can be very subtle in some and difficulty in this area is not a condemnation to lifelong solitude (many autistic people have friends, are married and have children). As a generalization, males tend to be more seriously effected in this area, especially those with Aspergers or High-Functioning Autism-- although that is not a steadfast rule to diagnose by.
10. Sleep Disturbances - Many autistics have issues with sleep. Often it is a difficulty with sleep (i.e., getting to sleep) or staying asleep. This possibly has to do with some of the common serotonin dysfunction in ASDs. Sometimes it can be an OCD-like issue regarding repetitive thoughts and the inability to “wind down".