Autism Behavior Checklist - The Tell-Tale Signs of Autism

Medical personnel often use evaluation tools to determine the types of symptoms in a patient and these symptoms' relationship with those that are prevalent among autistic individuals. Often, a good starting point is a checklist that can rule out the presence of symptoms of other conditions. One such checklist is provided below to help parents determine if their kids show the classical symptoms of autism. This autism behavior checklist is based on the triad of symptoms that is characteristic among patients - impaired social development, problems with communication, and repetitive behaviors.
Social Development
The first sign that a parent should look for if he suspects that his kid has autism is how the child responds to a social stimuli (examples: smile, touch, and hug). Failure to give proper responses could be a sign of a delay in social development or a brain development disorder like autism. Other signs include:
- Does not demonstrate eye contact;
- Does not begin or maintain conversation;
- Tendency to make very few friends;
- Inability to recognize faces or emotions; and,
- May display aggressive behaviors.
Communication
The first three years of a child's life are marked with accelerated developments in the brain which are critical to the development of speech. During this period, the brain is very absorbent to languages and the nuances of communication. Thus, a normal child will reach milestones in speech development during this time at a very fast rate. But, for children with autism, these developments are somewhat impossible to attain. While they may start babbling at the age of six months, most of them may be stuck at that until a few months later. The following communication impairments should raise a flag:
- Failure to babble or to produce repetitive syllables at the age of six months
- Development of unusual gestures
- Parroting of other people's vocalization or echolalia (Although echolalia is a typical milestone of speech development, normal children tend to outgrow it. Autistic children don't unless their speech follows a normal development.);
- Use of reverse pronouns or misapplication of pronouns (Reverse pronouns is a condition whereby an autistic child refers to himself using his proper name or pronouns like "you", "she", or "he". This condition is closely related to echolalic speech);
- Inability to properly perform joint attention (This is a condition wherein the usage of nonverbal cues or gestures calls another person's attention towards a particular stimulus. Autistic children do not have this capacity. It is common for them to look at the finger that points the object instead of look at the object that is being pointed-at. They also lack the ability to point at objects.);
- Diminished responsiveness (Children with autism do not respond well to most stimulus.); and,
- Because they lack the skills that can help them communicate with people, they cannot share their feelings or demonstrate their ideas.
Repetitive Behaviors
There are many forms of repetitive and restrictive behaviors that are associated with autism. These include:
- Compulsive behavior or intense focus on sticking with a certain rule or routine;
- Tendency to stick with a pattern of behaviors, otherwise known as ritualistic behavior;
- Tendency towards sameness (Children with autism do not like being disturbed or seeing their things removed from their usual places.);
- Performing repetitive movements such as head rolling and spinning ;
- Tendency to perform behaviors that can injure oneself or another person; and,
- Intense focus or concentration on a particular object
It should be noted that an autism behavior checklist is far from becoming a diagnostic tool. It is, nevertheless, very helpful for many parents to confirm whether their kids have autism or not. If your kid zeroed in the checklist, congratulations. However, if you have a feeling that your child's behaviors are somewhat suspicious, you should start considering seeking expert advice.

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How To Stop Echolalia In Autistic Children

Echolalia is a repetition of some form of dialogue that the Autistic child has heard. It can be repeated immediately or in can be repeated per verbatim at a later stage.
An example of immediate echolalia would be when someone asks the child "how are you?" and the child repeats "how are you?"
This can include complete dialogues that the Autistic child has heard from a conversation or a movie or radio broadcast.
It may not have a meaning to them at the time but they just repeat it.
Echolalia can be a little confusing when the child uses it all the time and then gets frustrated when people don't understand what they are trying to communicate.
An example of this would be if you asked the child what they wanted for lunch, a hamburger or a hotdog. An Autistic child with echolalia would say hotdog as it is the last thing they would have heard even if it was the hamburger they really wanted then they may get upset when presented with the hotdog.
Echolalia is being used by the child with Autism as a means of processing words and storing the words or complete dialogue for further use.
It increases their word bank and at times you may hear them practicing their dialogue using similar tones or inflections in speech as they heard it until they think that they got it right.
If careful attention is paid when listening to a child with echolalia, you may find that in their speech, there may be a link to what ever it is they are saying even in dialogue and what the situation is that is going on.
There are ways to stop or significantly decrease echolalia.
Present the Autistic child with two items, one that you know that they want, and one that you know they don't want.
When you offer the two items to the child, put the one that they don't want last.
For example, if you know that they like balls but they don't like puzzles, ask them "Do you want the ball or the puzzle?"
They will initially repeat "The puzzle".
At which point, hand the puzzle to them. They may get a little frustrated and make a grab for the ball and at that point you would repeat the question "Do you want the ball or the puzzle?"
As you ask, extend the ball towards them when you say ball and then extend the puzzle when you say puzzle.
After a couple or more times of this, the Autistic child with echolalia usually is starting to understand that they need to listen to what you are saying in order to get what they want.
Obviously you are going to start them out slowly and not make the requesting sentences too long or complicated as you just want them to get the idea that if they listen to your question and take the time to think about it, then answer by naming what it is they want, they will get what they desire.
Obviously your success in stopping the echolalia depends on the degree of Autism that they have but you should definitely be able to decrease it significantly in any case.
As time progresses this can be used for other more complex conversational situations and evoke more appropriate conversational responses from the autistic child with echolalia for questions such as how are you and what is your name.
Taken slowly but consistently, echolalia in an autistic child can be decreased significantly to the point where only an experienced person could pick it up.

Donna Mason has been a Registered Nurse for the past 16 years. She is the mother of 6 children, 3 of whom have varying degrees of Autism. For more information on Autism signs and symptoms, and to learn more about this mother's battle in the fight against this misunderstood condition, visit us on the web at: http://www.autisticadventures.blogspot.com

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3 Common Behaviors of Kids With Autism

Children with autism vary greatly in their symptoms of the disorder, now more commonly known among the autism community as Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD. Symptoms of ASD can range from very mild, such as a person with high functioning Asperger's Syndrome, or very severe such as a child who is totally non-verbal and has very little ability to care for him or herself.

Here are three common behaviors in children with autism.

Behavior Number One: Children with autism have an extreme need for routine and structure. Despite the severity of a child's autism, most have an extreme need for routine, order and structure in their daily lives. They do best when on a routine schedule, preferably one that is posted visually with words and/or pictures.

Children with autism frequently want to eat the same types of food and drinks, some becoming very picky eaters. Perhaps more common than a picky eater is that the children will come to expect a certain food associated with a certain event. For instance, if the class always has pizza on Mondays, and pizza is not offered on Monday, a child with autism might get upset at this change in routine.

In the same regard, children with ASD can become upset when people change, such as in the case of a substitute teacher, a change in seats, or even visual displays changing from one day to the next. An example would be that all year the eight basic colors have been displayed on a bulletin board in a classroom. Very little reference has been made to the bulletin board but one day the red one falls down as the custodian in cleaning. No one notices but when the child with autism walks into the room, he says, "Red!" Being unable to communicate what he is talking about, he gets upset until finally someone is able to figure out what he is talking about.

Behavior Number Two: Children with Autism often engage in some type of obsession with an activity, thing or even a person.

Autistic children frequently develop obsessions with people, places or things to the point of not wanting to engage in anything unrelated to the obsession. Typical obsessions involve things such as Thomas the Tank Engine, zoo animals, a certain music C.D., or even vacuum cleaners. A typical scenario is that a peer who is unfamiliar with the child with autism asks, "Hi, what is your name?" The child with ASD who is obsessed with zoo animals responds, "Jonah and I went to the zoo yesterday. We saw lions. Did you know lions are carnivores and that the male lion is the dominant one in the pride. Groups of lions are called prides. Did you know that? Lions are known for their ability to hunt in a group. Usually it's the females that do this."

On a positive note, an obsession might be used to a person's advantage. A child who is obsessed with lions might one day grow up to work at the zoo and be the one totally responsible for the lion's habitat, or even become a lion expert, do research on lions, etc. Obsessions can change over time or be static.

Behavior Number Three: Children with autism usually have some type of difficulty communicating with others. Children with autism frequently have a difficult time maintaining eye contact. They can be non-verbal but most are verbal. Autistic children who are verbal typically had a difficult time answering "W" questions, meaning who, what, where, and why questions. If a child is asked, "Do you like ice cream?" they might be able to easily answer but if asked "What kind?" or "How much do you want?" it ,might be difficult for them to ask.

Some children with autism also demonstrate echolalia, which is repeating what others have said, either immediately after another person, or sometime later. Children who exhibit echolalia can imitate words and phrases, but also sounds such as bird calls, or repeat entire passages of words from a cartoon or movie. There are cases in which a child is non-verbal yet can repeat an entire television program, using the correct inflections and pitch.

There are many characteristics of autism but the above are three common ones.

Kristin Whiting is an adoptive Mom, Special Needs Preschool Teacher, and a regular contributor to Associated Content, Ezine, Squidoo and Hubpages. She has varied interests in such topics as family life, domestic adoption, foster parenting, healthcare, education, working with children who have special needs, social issues and GLBT parenting.
She can be reached through her two blogs - Amazing Family Life or My Special Needs Classroom - or her email at kwhiting644@yahoo.com

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Language Issues - Key Elements on Your Autism Symptoms Checklist

When going through your mental autism symptoms checklist, there are many things that you should look for. One such thing is the child's use of language.

Odd Use of Language - a Classic Symptom in Kids With Autism

Kids with autism tend to use language in a very odd kind of way. Some take a while to say anything. Others will reverse pronouns, saying "You want a cookie" when they mean that they want a cookie.

Echolalia is Another Autism Symptom to Look For

Echolalia means that a child repeats sentences and phrases that they have heard from TV shows or movies in order to communicate. They can often memorize whole passages, and later on will quote them at whim or in response to a question.

Many times, the echolalic response does not make sense in regards to the question, but often a child will have what is sometimes called "functional echolalia," where the responses will actually answer the question, but albeit in a very bizarre way. This stems from the child's inability to come up with their own original sentences and language, so they try to use things they've heard other places to answer.

On your checklist of autism symptoms note this pattern. Ask yourself, "Can my child create original sentences easily or does he or she mirror what they hear?"

Many times this autism symptom is just seen as cute and sometimes this symptom can be missed if the echolalic phrases don't seem to out of the ordinary. It is not that the child doesn't have any original thoughts of his or her own, it is just that they are having trouble using language to express them. On your check list of autism symptoms, make sure that you listen carefully for this odd use of language...for it can point to autism at its core.

Expressive versus Receptive Language

Another issue that should be on your checklist of autism symptoms is the issue of expressive versus receptive language.

1. Expressive: Expressive means how well you can use language to express your thoughts. This also includes things like can you modulate your tone of voice, can you modify the prosody of your voice so different meanings are expressed with the same word, and so on.
2. Receptive: Receptive language is often harder, both to achieve and to measure. This means how well does your child understand language? Not just the words themselves, but all the hidden meanings behind them. Can they pick up on sarcasm? On gentle teasing or kidding? How well do they understand jokes? Can they understand if someone says one thing but means another? Most kids with autism are quite literal minded, and have trouble picking up on these things.

Recent Autism Research Shows the Brain's Influence

Recent research has shown that some of these problems are a result of the different sides of the brain not communicating or "syncing" up with each other very well. Either way, the effects can be difficult.

Communication is More Than Words

Many people with autism might be quite smart and have good vocabularies, but because they can't use body language or modify their tone of voice very well, a lot of time the intent of their message gets lost. Also, many people with autism have a "flat" tone of voice, and to the unaware, this is often interpreted as a lack of interest, or even a lack of intelligence or sensitivity, when this is often not the case at all.

When you're going over the autism symptoms checklist, be sure to check for any language problems that may exist.

Hopefully, with early identification and early treatment, life can be a little easier for those with autism and the people who love them. For additional tips and suggestions that can help your loved one live a fulfilling and happy life visit the AmericanAutismSociety.org. There you can sign up for their FREE newsletter with tips and info on autism.

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Making Sense of How an Individual With Autism Communicates

Getting one's needs met and to exist happily in one's family, community and beyond is dependent on the ability to communicate. As non-autistic individuals we can use ourselves to communicate our needs and express our feelings. The individual with autism depending on his functioning level, has anywhere from extremely limited (nonexistent in some) to some ability to ask for his needs to be met. Some people with autism seem to communicate by persevering on a topic that seems to not relate at all to whatever the topic might be. For example, one child may become fixated on televisions and only be able to talk about this subject, no matter what else is being discussed. It is not unusual for individuals with autism to seem to come out of "left field" with what they might say. For example, the topic may be going to the grocery store and what will be bought at the store. The child may say, "you are pretty."
There are also individuals who are nonverbal, those who use echolalia and still others that can only express their needs by reversing their pronouns. When they want a cookie to eat, instead of saying "I want a cookie," the child may say, "you want a cookie."
Let's make sense of what is going on. It is my opinion that a person with autism has not had the benefit of a completed attachment, lacks the ability to use him/herself in relationship to others and is also in a state of dissociation which causes varying degrees of consciousness and awareness. This incomplete attachment compromises the child's ability to have relationships and to communicate. Let me explain how these different elements contribute to not only problems in communicating, but also relating to others.
It is important to remember that the individual with autism wants to communicate and in fact is always communicating about himself even though he may be nonverbal, echolalic or reversing pronouns. He is like any human being in that he has a need to communicate. Unfortunately, because he has had an incomplete attachment, he cannot identify his feelings, which are dissociated, and therefore cannot use those feelings to express his needs. In other words, he has not developed to a level where he has self-agency. This means he literally cannot ask for anything for his own benefit. This is not a physical problem, but instead a developmental problem that can change over time.
It is my opinion, that what one sees with the nonverbal child with autism is the reverse of what one sees with a typical child. I call this phenomenon Inside out, upside down. In other words, the unconscious part of the child is on the outside and the conscious part is in the inside. That is why some nonverbal children with autism seem out of control and low functioning, but with the use of a computer can communicate beautifully in writing. This is a very good example of the split or dissociation of the self. Most people are unfamiliar with seeing the unconscious. Because most people are unfamiliar with the workings of the unconscious, individuals with autism are constantly misunderstood.
The phenomenon of echolalia is also something that can be understood. One first needs to remember that the child with autism has minimal and varying (depending on their functioning level) ability to use himself in relationship to others. Also it is important to remember that an incomplete attachment precludes one from being able to use one's self. Thus echolalia is the result of not being able to use one's self. The child only has access to what they hear. They may hear "do you want a cookie?" Developmentally all the child can do is mimic the other person. There is no awareness and ability to use the self in response to the other. Thus the end result is a repetition of what the child heard.
The child who reverses his pronouns and uses 'you' to mean 'I' is beginning to use his self with others. The child uses 'you' because it is safer than 'me or I.' The child with autism does not feel safe in the world. Everything is confusing, awkward and anxiety producing. The use of 'you' as it refers to the self is another example of dissociation. As I mentioned before the child is split. As the child develops and he becomes less split and gains more agency, he will then move to using the pronoun 'me' and finally as he has more and more access to himself, he will be able to use 'I.' There seems to be a direct correlation to the use of 'I' and ability to know and access feelings and use them in relationship to others.
Now lets look at why the communication of individuals with autism appears inappropriate. First of all, I believe that an individual with autism is always communicating his state of existence. Unfortunately, most people perceive these communications from their own experience, which includes having completed the attachment process. In working with individuals with autism, many try to extinguish the "odd" behaviors of the child. In doing so, we are not understanding the message the child is trying to communicate through his strange behaviors. We in a sense are helping him to feel misunderstood versus understood and not seen versus seen. Instead these communications need to be understood within the context of a child who has never attached and cannot use the self to communicate. Every behavior that the child uses can be understood and must be understood so that the child can gain understanding and recognition, which are precursors to being able to attach. Our work with the person with autism is to understand, validate, accept and recognize him. If the caregiver or professional can recognize and see the child, then the child can start to see him or herself.
Examples may help to understand what I am communicating. I visited a three-year-old nonverbal boy, who had never seemed to play appropriately with his toys. In observing him, I noticed he was picking his lips. Instead of telling him not to pick his lips, I said, "you are telling me that something is going on around your lips and your inability to talk." He looked at me and then played appropriately with a toy. He had never done this before. Another example will help to highlight this point. I worked with another boy who liked to watch videos. He had certain ones he wanted to make sure I saw. One day, he showed me a video, which explained a complicated family dynamic. I interpreted the dynamic as it related to his family. As I was able to do that, he could begin to talk about his own personal experience. These are examples of how one interprets and uses projection with individuals with autism to help them gain access to their feelings.
In concluding, I want to restate that the perseverations, the out of context communications, the use of pronoun reversal, echolalia, and nonverbal communication, to name only a few, can be understood through the lens of an Incomplete Attachment which leaves the individual in a state of waiting for a completed attachment and without access to himself or what I call self-agency.

Karen Savlov is a psychoanalyst and Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in West Los Angeles, California. My specialty is Autism Spectrum Disorders, anger, dissociation, depression, anxiety and relationships. For new and creative ways to think about autism read and follow my blog at http://www.wonderingaboutautism.blogspot.com. I can also be followed on Twitter at Autism Thoughts.

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