Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disability that impairs the ability to communicate and socialise. The two major symptom categories are:

  • Social development and communication – children with ASD have significant social impairments and usually find it difficult to understand social behaviour and communication
  • Repetitive behaviour patterns and stereotyped interests and behavior.

Some common behaviours we see in children with ASD are:

  • Lack of or very little:
    • Eye contact
    • Response to name
    • Purposeful and reciprocal communication
    • Sharing of emotions
    • Ability to create and maintain social relationships
    • Interest in peer activities
    • Facial expressions
    • Repetitive/stereotyped movements or use of objects or speech, e.g., arranging things in lines, echolalia, hand flapping, head banging, etc
    • Difficulty to function without routine
    • Restricted interests
    • Preoccupation with unusual objects
    • Solitary and unusual play
    • Hyper or hyposensitivity to stimulus

We at SAHAS are working with families of children with ASD to help them learn language and manage common behaviour issues so that they can lead as normal a life as possible.