Most Autistic people, but not all:
1. They have trouble reading and understanding: Non-verbal cues. Such as body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, etc. Not only do they have trouble interpreting other people's body language, but, they often don't show much non-verbal cues, like facial expressions themselves.
2. One of the hardest and most uncomfortable things for them to do is to look somebody in the eyes! Giving another person direct eye contact is very frightening, uncomfortable, difficult and just feels weird.
It took me years to get used to looking people in the eye. When I first started trying to do it, it made me feel sick, rapid heart rate, hard to breath, I felt like vomiting, I had to resist the urge to run away, i was really scared and I actually felt like I was doing something illegal! Fortunately, I don't have that problem anymore.
3. Autistic people and Aspies (A person that has Asperger's) do feel a lot of empathy for other people, they just don't show it very well through verbal and non-verbal language.
4. They are not usually anti-social, they do want to talk to people. They just don't know how, they are uncomfortable approaching new people they don't know, they may of had a lot of bad experiences with people, they don't understand non-verbal language and don't know if it will be safe to approach a specific person.
But, if you make the first move and talk to them first, they will usually want to have somebody to talk to and they might hang out with you all day.
5. No verbal filter. Quite often, they will not know how to sugar coat things. They will not stop and think before they speak. They frequently just come right out and very bluntly say something that, to you, may sound inappropriate. They were not trying to offend anybody, they just didn't know any other way to say what was on their mind. Sometimes they might tell an extremely vulgar joke to somebody who is very religious and everybody in the room hears the joke, they think it's funny, but they don't dare laugh at it, because they don't want to be the one to offend the preacher that is standing next to the person who told the vulgar joke. (I've been there, done that!)
6. Selective Mutism.
If someone with Autism is uncomfortable around a specific person or doesn't know them very well, they might totally ignore that person and refuse to talk to them. This could go on for one day, a few minutes or the rest of their life! Usually, if the Autistic person gets to know the person they're ignoring or they just become more comfortable around them, they will stop doing this.
7. Not everybody with an Autism Spectrum Disorder is really good at Math and Science. They don't all think very logically. Some are more creative.
8. A lot of Autistic people don't understand jokes. Sometimes if you tell a joke, everyone else will laugh and the Autistic will not laugh, they probably didn't understand the joke and will think about it for a while (Knock knock. Who's there....... What is so funny about knocking on somebody's door?), but they still won't understand it.
Worse yet, they might take the joke literally and think you were actually serious.
9. Literal thinkers. Just like taking a joke seriously, they might take other common expressions literally. If you say: "It's raining cats and dogs, a young kid might not understand that expression. The kid might look out the window and get confused because they don't see any animals falling out of the sky.
10. Blue lights are a sign that you support Autism Awareness. Mar-26-Apr-2, 2018 Is World Autism Awareness Week. April is National Autism Awareness Month. So, from now until April 30th would be a good time to put a Blue light on your porch.
11. Autistic people are often very detail oriented. If you see a car in a parking lot, you will notice that it is a Red, Ford Mustang. They will look at it differently. They might point out some small detail that nobody else can see. They might say: "The paint is chipped on the Right side of the hood."
12. Facial recognition. If an Autistic person sees someone they know and they are at a place where they see that person all the time, they will have no problem recognizing them and they will know exactly who that person is. But, if they go out somewhere else and see that same person somewhere else, they might not recognize them. It's even worse with people they have only known a short period of time.
13. Monotone voice sounds rude. A person with Autism often has a flat tone, pitch, tempo, inflection etc. They might tell you they're excited, happy, sad or anything else, but, you can't hear it in their voice.
Some of them sound like a robot. Their voice is that flat and monotone. They don't realize it either. Some people accuse them of being rude or disrespectful, but, they are not being disrespectful. They don't realize there is anything unusual about their voice. So please don't let that bother you.
14. Multitasking. Most people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have a hard time multitasking. They may be able to handle doing two things at the same time, but, they will have trouble concentrating on both tasks. Most of their attention will be focused on one of the two things. They will forget about the other. Throw in a third task and forget it! They will probably not get all three things done at the same time!
15. Driving is a big problem for a lot of Autistics. Some people have Autism or a related disorder. They are 25 years old and still don't have a driver's license! They don't want it and are not ready. They don't feel safe behind the wheel or whatever their reason is.
When they do start to drive, they often will never figure out exactly how to drive a stick shift properly and safely, without having any problems. That requires a lot of multitasking. You have to do everything with perfect timing and concentrate on too many things at the same time. It is too difficult and a waste of time! Just keep it simple, get an automatic transmission, you simply step on the gas and don't concentrate any of that unnecessary, waste of time shifting!
16. Stimming: This includes things like, rocking back and forth or sideways, hand flapping, humming or fidgeting with an object, such as a pencil, toys or whatever they can find. This is one reason why Fidget Spinners were invented. They can help with stimming and fidgeting. (Please don't try to stop a child from stimming. It helps to keep them calm and prevent them from having a meltdown.)
17. Forgetfulness: Albert Einstein had Asperger's. Although, he was very smart and his IQ score was 160, he was very forgetful. People with Autism Spectrum Disorders often tend to be very smart, but, sometimes very forgetful. New Scientific and Psychological research has shown that most extremely intelligent people seem to be very forgetful.
18. Straight A students. If you notice when your kid is in elementary school, they don't have to study very hard and they are always getting straight As and Bs, that is a sign of Autism. It doesn't necessarily mean the kid is Autistic, it's just one symptom of Autism.
19. Intense interest or almost an obsession with a limited amount of things.
For some people with Asperger's and Autism, they might love Math, Chemistry, Physics, Dogs, Dinosaurs, cars or or other things.
Myself, I've always loved Astronomy, UFOs, planets and other things Astronomy related.
Also, ironically, I have always loved jokes. (Ironic, because, most Aspies don't understand Jokes very well. But, I've never had that problem.)
20. Less imaginative play. Some Autistic kids can be very imaginative. But, a lot of them are less imaginative and creative than other kids. They may choose to play games that are more simplistic and not as creative. They may require less imagination and be just logical and sometimes simple games.
They may be too much of a logical and straight to the point thinker. Or they might be too shy to want to join in a game that requires more creativity.
(I had that problem when I was younger. I was usually very creative, but, too shy to suggest a more creative game or join others in the creative games they were playing.)
21. Less interested in sports than most people seem to be. Autistic people often tend to be more independent and less team oriented. Other team members just get in the way. Aspies often choose games that are not team oriented games, such as Golf. There's no team, you don't have to wait for someone else to throw you the ball. Nobody can throw the ball to a dozen other players, etc. They prefer to take all the credit for the game and don't want other people getting in their way.
Autistic people often get bored watching sports. They don't understand the games or how and why people can sit there and watch them for a long time.
(I have had several friends who loved sports. I didn't understand that. However, in the Army, everybody hung out in one guys room in the barracks when any sport came on that they liked, especially: Wrestling and Football. If I wanted to hang out with my friends, I had to go suffer through the sports, just to hang out with everybody.)
22. Writing: Most people with Asperger's and Autism are more logical and less creative. They are usually better at Math and Science than they are at Creative writing. If they do get into writing at all, they are usually better at writing research papers, newspaper articles and Scientific reports rather than writing creative, fictional stories.
(Myself, I've done all of the above. I've written newspaper articles, fictional stories and as you can see here, Scientific and Psychological research reports. Writing has always been one of my strong points and something I enjoy.)
