Each child with an autism spectrum disorder will have his or her own individual pattern of behavior. Sometimes, a child's development is delayed from birth. Other children with autism develop normally before suddenly losing social or language skills. In some children, a loss of language is the impairment. In others, unusual behaviors (like spending hours lining up toys) predominate.

Parents are usually the first to notice something is wrong.

Symptoms of autism include:

• Extreme difficulty in learning language.
• Inappropriate response to people. A child with autism may avoid eye contact, resist being picked up or cuddled, and seem to tune out the world.
• Inability or reduced ability to play cooperatively with other children or to make friends.
• Inability to understand other people's feelings.
• Need for a rigid, highly structured routine -- and being very distressed by changes in routines.
• Extreme hyperactivity or unusual passivity, and extreme resistance to change.
• Repetitive body movements including pacing, hand flicking, twisting, spinning, rocking, or hitting oneself.
• Insensitivity to pain or lack of response to cold or heat.
• Impulsive behavior and no real fear of dangers.
• An unusual attachment to inanimate objects such as toys, strings, or spinning objects.
• Frequent crying and tantrums for no apparent reason.
• Peculiar speech patterns. A child with autism may use words without understanding their meanings.
• Abnormal responses to sensations such as light, sound, and touch. At times a child with autism may appear deaf. At other times the child may be extremely distressed by everyday noises.
• Some of these symptoms occur in children with other disabilities. Symptoms can change as the child grows older.

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