autistic disorder / diagnostic features

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the essential features of autistic disorder are the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired

 development in social interaction

and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activity and interests

manifestations of the disorder vary greatly depending on the developmental level and chronological age of the individual

       autistic disorder is  sometimes referred to as early infantile autism, childhood autism, or kanners

autism

the impairment in reciprocal social interaction is gross and sustained. there may be marked   impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors (e.g., eye - to- eye of gaze, facial expression, body postures and gestures) to regulate social interaction and communication . there may be failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to develomental level

that may take different forms at different ages  younger individuals may have little or no interest in friendships / older individuals may have an interest in friendship but lack understanding of the conventions of social interaction

there may be a kack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests,or achievments with other people (e.g, not shwing, bringing, or pointing out object they find interesting ) lack of social or emotional reciprocity may be present ( not actively participating in simple  social play or games , preferring solitary activities or involving others in activities only as tools or "mechanical" aids

often an individuals awareness of others is markedly impaired. individuals with this disorder may be oblivious to other children ( including sibling ) , may have no concept of the needs of others , or may not notice another persons distress

the impairment in communication is also marked and sustained and affects both verbal and nonverbal skills. there may be delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language . in individuals who do speak, there may be marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others , or a stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language there may also be a lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level. when speech does develop, the pitch, intonation, rate, rhythm,or stress may be abnormal ( e.g, tone of voice may be monotonous or inappropriate to context or may contain question like rises at ends of statements) . grammatical structures are often immature and include stereotyped and repetitive use of language ( e.g , repetition of words or phrases regardless of meaning , repeating jingles or commercials or idiosyncratic language ( i.e, language that has meaning only to those familiar with the individuals communication style ). language comprehension is often very delayed, and the individual may be unable to understand simple question or direction. a disturbance in the pragmatic ( social use ) of language is often evidenced by an inability to integrate words with gestures or understand humor or nonliteral aspects of speech such as irony or implied meaning imaginative play is often absent or markedly impaired . these individuals also tend not to engage in the simple imitation games or routines of infancy or early childhood or do so only out of context or in a mechanical way

 individuals with autistic disorder have restricted , repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior interests, and activities. there may be an encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patters of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus an apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals

stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms or a persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

individuals with autistic disorder display a markedly restricted range of interests and are often preoccupied with one narrow interest ( e.g ,dates , phone numbers, radio station call letters ) they may line up an exact number of play things in the same manner over and over again or repetitively mimic the actions of a television actor they may insist on sameness and show resistance to or distress over trivial changes ( e.g , a younger child may have a catastrophic reaction to a minor change in the environment such as rearrangement of the furniture or use of a new set of utensils at the dinner table