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 lead as normal a life as possible.