Social Challenges and Repetitive Behaviors

Core symptoms can include challenges with social communication, such as verbal and non-verbal skills. Children with autism may not speak or appropriately use facial expressions, gestures, eye contact or tone of voice.  They may not be able to recognize their own emotions nor those of others and may have difficutly expressing these emotions. People with autism often feel overwhelmed in social situations and have difficulty judging the appropriate distance between people, i.e. no sense of personal space.