What are the strongest signs of autism?

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Hello everyone,

The question I have for you folks is in the title above. If you had to pick the top 3-5 signs to identify autism in an individual, what would they be? Or, to put it another way, what separates autism from all other conditions? This question was inspired by AardvarkGoodSwimmer's post in this thread.

In my opinion, it's non-verbal social withdrawal.

Sensory sensitivity coupled with an aberrant social development, possible strong and specialized interests, and...don't know

Like every neurological disorder, autism comes with a set of symptoms, each individual symptom is a symptom from a set of symptoms from another neurological disorder.

The way I see it autism consists of these 6 "main" symptoms at varying degrees, although not everybody on the autism spectrum has every one of these.

- Socially challenged in some way (which has its own set of sub-symptoms)
- Disliking change
- Prone to meltdowns
- Sensory issues
- Special interests or obsessions
- Repetitive behaviours


Other neurological disorders may share one or two of these common autism symptoms, but obviously have their own set of symptoms that when grouped together forms a neurological disorder unrelated to autism (but can be a co-morbid). So any autism symptom can be present in schizophrenia, or dementia, or ADHD, etc, along with their own set of symptoms.

You get what I'm saying?

I have moderate classic autism. I don't know hypothetically what are the defining characteristics but here are mine:

-Impaired verbal and nonverbal communication
-Being withdrawn, aloof, and otherwise socially impaired
-Repetitive behaviors and stimming
-Special interests
-Sensory hypersensitivities, hyposensitivities, and sensory seeking
-Meltdowns, shutdowns, and panic attacks

having a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder, as given by a qualified developmental health professional.


seems like a rather unmistakable sign

Developmental background, in my opinion. There's a lot of overlap between autism and other developmental disorders, and even some personality disorders, if we're talking about borderline autism. But the early developmental markers/traits are more reliable. NVLD is very similar to autism later in life, for example, but one of its primary signs in early development is advanced verbal skills, rather than language delays/abnormalities as in HFA. Some specific cognitive weaknesses and skills also set HFA apart from other developmental disorders (some of these are still debated, but I think they'll become more important as diagnostic markers eventually). Last, I don't believe that special interests (when they're clinically significant) are associated with any other disorder. Although they're far from universal in HFA, I think they're the easiest "tell" for autism.

It's tempting to look for general traits that create an easy distinction between autism and other issues in an individual, but if we're committed to the current inclusiveness of the spectrum, the differences will mostly be found in very subtle trends. Because of that, I don't think there's any way to know whether an individual has autism specifically unless they've undergone neuropsychological testing. Otherwise, it's difficult to rule out a diagnosis that's more specific.

Someone who is obviously smart but very ignorant socially. Wildly varying intelligence.

I think it depends on the level of autism.
Severe autism will show up right away in the baby being withdrawn and aloof.
With mild autism it might not show up until kindergarten where the child displays having problems with socializing.

The symptomatology of autism runs the gamut.

There’s a wide range in severity.

Even mild classic autism is usually evident in toddlerhood. It’s the Asperger’s type where it might not be evident until Kindergarten.

Probably quite a few.

But not as many as in the old days.

A bunch of extremes. Lots of feeling. No feeling. Lots of sensing. No sensing. Meltdowns. Shutdowns (including depression). If able to, connects by exchanging information; has lots of information.