Behavior Characteristics of Autism

Behavior characteristics of autism can be broken down into two basic categories.

The first of the behavior characteristics of autism is a difference in interpreting sensory information.  A person diagnosed with autism or ‘on the autism spectrum’ can interpret sensory information very differently than people who are not ‘on the spectrum’.  A person diagnosed with autism can be incredibly sensitive to some sensory stimuli while being very oblivious to others.  Sensory differences can be one of the most challenging behavior characteristics of autism because over-stimulation can be a great source of discomfort for the individual.  This discomfort can cause the individual to react in bizarre, harmful, and even self-abusive ways.

There are many different examples of sensory interpretation differences being behavior characteristics of autism.  One example would be an individual who is extremely sensitive to light touch.  This means that if I were to graze this person’s arm or gently touch them on the shoulder, this feeling would be so unbearable for that individual that it would become overwhelming.  This feeling of pain would likely cause a negative reaction, either against me (in order to prevent me from continuing my behavior) or against themselves (which again would cause me to change my behavior, but also may change the sensory input and help them to deescalate and regulate their body).  This same person may not have any sensory issue with deep touch so a tight squeeze on the wrist or a ‘bear’ hug may feel quite good for this person.

It is of the utmost importance to find out how a person with autism interprets sensory input and make accommodations for their behavior characteristics of autism. for them.  Sensory diets are a very effective way of helping individuals with autism to regulate their systems and cope with the many sensory challenges they are forced to cope with on a daily basis that are outside of their control.

The second of the behavior characteristics of autism are differences in movement.  Part of the effect of autism is that it is a movement disorder.  This can be very difficult during times of transitioning from one area to another.  While the individual may understand the need to move or even have the desire to move their brain is not able to communicate this desire to the physical parts of the body that are required to carry out the action.  Oftentimes this is done very slowly and can take a long time for the individual to make the transition.  What can often happen is that the people who are with this individual operate on a different clock and feel that individual should to.  Therefore they intervene in this process, which can lead to a negative reaction.

Other behavior characteristics of autism involving movement are the individual walking on their tiptoes or the balls of their feet.  Knocking over objects, being rough with objects, grabbing at people, rocking back and forth, attempting to strike out at people, head banging, etc.  There are many ways that people diagnosed with autism move differently than hose who aren’t.  This does not mean that they will display all, or any of these behavior characteristics.

It is easy for people to be upset by some of these movement differences and may see them as intentional acts of aggression.  This is not the case.  Many times what is happening is that the person’s brain wants to do one thing and the body’s interpretation of that desire is misinterpreted into an unrelated movement.  This can be very frustrating for that individual and cause a great deal of stress in their life not to mention the stress it has on their ability to have relationships with people.

The behavior characteristics of autism are so distinct because from a very young age their brains have been forming neurological pathways very differently than people who do not have autism.  They interpret their environments quite differently and interact with their environments quite differently as a result.  There is a new terminology emerging from people ‘on the spectrum’ where they have been referred to as neuro-atypical.  There is also a terminology emerging from people with autism referring to the rest of the population as neurotypical.

It is important for people to understand that although they may seem like they are in their own world, they are very much present in the world around them.  Those people who have been deemed non-communicative who have found their way to communicate can articulate their experiences, thoughts, and feelings better than many people.

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Part (or most) of your role as someone who supports a person with autism is finding accommodations that work for that person to help them function despite the behavior characteristics of autism.  Think about what it feels like to be over-stimulated and trying to focus on direction or specific task.  Pretend that you are in a room with a high school band all warming up playing different notes and being asked to finish a math problem.  Do you think it would be easy to do it?  Do you think that you would even be able to complete the task?  This is what people with autism face on daily basis.  Many things that we find in our day to day lives as mundane are incredibly over-stimulating for individuals who display the behavior characteristics of autism.  This could be something like a fluorescent light.

Accommodations means to do what is necessary to enable the individual to be successful in any given area.  Refer to the list of behavior characteristics of autism get an idea of what types of things are challenging to this particular individual.  Once you understand what some triggers may be you can start to develop ideas about what possible accommodations you can use to address each behavior characteristic of autism.

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The following is a checklist of various behavior characteristics of autism.  It is important for you to become aware of the individual you are caring for and where they fit in each of these categories.  Other factors that are important to consider are the Frequency (how often), Duration (how long), Intensity (how strong), and Context (where or under what circumstances) of the displayed behavior characteristics of autism.

Overall State
•    Focus on picking up debris
•    Feels need to ‘fix’ the environment (arranging and rearranging objects)
•    Unable to reach relaxed state
•    Very inactive or lethargic
•    ‘wired’, hyper-active, agitated

Environmental/Sensory Sensitivity
•    Difficulty with loud, confusing, or unpredictable noise
•    Difficulty with particular sounds or noises
•    Difficulty in highly stimulating environments
•    Difficulty with particular lighting conditions (fluorescent lights, bright sunlight)
•    Difficulty with or attraction to scents
•    Difficulty with or attachment to certain fabrics or clothing types
•    Dislikes touch or hugs

Emotional Expression
•    Lack of expression in eyes or face
•    Inappropriate facial expression
•    Outbursts - anger, laughing, crying
•    Difficult to read or understand emotional state
•    Does not cry
•    Does not smile or laugh
•    Appears anxious or distraught

Spontaneity
•    Maintains rigid and repetitive patterns or rules
•    Strong desire or need for structure and control
•    Apparent lack of capacity for pleasure or enjoyment
•    Does not respond well to unfamiliar situations
•    Lacks ability to adapt or make spontaneous changes
•    Unusual or unexpected movements (running into the street)

Relationships
•    Seems uninterested in others
•    Minimal acknowledgment of others
•    Seldom makes eye contact
•    Does not have friends
•    Does not imitate
•    Cannot calm self
•    Does not respond to name
•    Appears indifferent to absence or presence of a parent or caregiver
•    Injures self or others
•    Does not share or show

Digestion/Elimination
•    Incontinence of bowel and/or bladder
•    Constipation
•    Unusual toilet habits
•    Frequent gas, flatulence, burping, or throwing up

Walking
•    Walks on toes
•    Does not swing arms when walking
•    Moves very fast or slow (darts, shuffles)
•    Unusual gait (asymmetrical, stiff, broken, not smooth)
•    Does not alternate stairs
•    Difficulty judging space
•    Difficulty changing from one floor surface to another (tile to carpet, wood to carpet, etc.)

Gestures and Communication
•    Limited use of gesture to communicate
•    Does not use hands to signal or gesture
•    Does not use eyes to signal or communicate
•    Difficult to understand desires or aversions

Voice and Mouth
•    Halting, limited, or absent speech
•    Repeats sounds or vocalizations
•    Usually makes no sounds
•    Teeth grinding
•    Grimacing
•    Speaks very loudly or very softly

Attention and Distraction
•    Difficult or slow to engage in activity
•    Seems “lost in own world”
•    Gets “locked into” activities of interest

General Movement
•    Rocking, spinning, twirling
•    Difficulty or awkwardness
•    moving through space (bumps into things)
•    moving from sitting to standing
•    moving through doorways
•    getting in or out of a vehicle
•    reaching for or grasping an object

Daily Routines
•    Prompting to accomplish tasks is required
•    Does not perform self care activities without help
•    Does not use objects in functional ways
•    Does not initiate activities
•    Does not appear to be aware of danger
•    Responds slowly to requests
•    Does opposite of what is requested or expected
•    Gets stuck or freezes during routine tasks
•    Difficulty stopping an activity or task
•    Difficulty with transitions from one activity to another

Posture
•    Musculature tight and rigid
•    Musculature floppy and limp
•    Slouched posture
•    Rigid posture
•    Odd or unnatural posture

Sleep
•    Insomnia or restless at night
•    Frequent waking at night
•    Seems to require minimal amount of sleep
•    Seems to require too much sleep or at odd times

Eating/Drinking
•    Swallows food without chewing
•    Stuffs mouth or cheeks until over-full
•    Gulps large quantities of liquids
•    Limited food preferences
•    Intolerance to foods with particular texture or color
•    Low impulse control around food

This list of behavior characteristics of autism is just a list.  Individual with autism may display varying degrees of these behavior characteristics.  It is important to get to know the different behaviors that the person you are caring for exhibits so that accommodations can be facilitated with them or on their behalf.

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Throughout my career in the field of disability services I have worked with a wide variety of individuals.  The behavior characteristics of autism have been some of the most challenging behaviors to deal with.  Self injurious behavior has been a particular challenge as it is always hard to watch someone perform such acts on themselves and it has always been difficult to intervene as these people are so incredibly determined to harm themselves.
After some further reading into the subject of self injurious behavior I have found a theory that holds some weight and it goes along well with the behavior characteristics of autism.

The theory states that a person may engage in self injurious behavior such as head banging, hand biting, etc. in order to accomplish sensory goal.  This goal could be that their senses are over-stimulated and need to engage in this behavior to bring themselves back down.  Or the person could be under-stimulated and is engaging in the behavior to introduce stimuli and regulate their sensory system.

The difficulty with these behavior characteristics of autism is that it is very difficult for staff to know which of the two it is.  Now there are some obvious indicators such as if you were in a crowded place or a place with a lot of noise and lights or obvious sensory problems for someone.  If they engage in the behavior you do your best  to help them leave that situation and find an area where they can regulate their sensory system more easily with more appropriate methods.  The real challenge can be when the person is under-stimulated.  This behavior may come out of nowhere and throw the care person off guard.

Strategies to Address Self Injurious Behavior Characteristics of Autism:

Sensory Diet.
The individual should be put on a sensory diet that can be developed in conjunction with an occupational therapist.  A sensory diet consists of various sensory activities scheduled throughout the day to help the individual regulate their sensory system.  This has been found to be effective and helps the individual to better cope with the sensory challenges they face on a daily basis.  A sensory diet would help prevent the self injurious behavior characteristics of autism.

Replacement Behaviors.
The individual should be taught how to replace the self injurious behavior with a more appropriate behavior that causes less harm but has the ultimate effect which is regulating the sensory system.  Communication strategies need to be taught in order to prevent the behavior from escalating and also giving supports a chance to introduce alternatives (such as increasing or reducing sensory stimuli) in order to help the individual regulate.

It can be a terrible thing to watch a person or your own child engage in the self injurious behavior characteristics of autism.  Over time you will come to know the different sensory issues and triggers for this person and you will be able to help them regulate their sensory systems.  Eventually self injurious behavior should no longer be necessary because the individual has learned alternative ways of coping and communicating their needs.

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Behavior characteristics of autism are important to be knowledgeable about and  watching for as your child is developing.  The sooner you are aware they are displaying behavior characteristics of autism the better chance you have of minimizing the severity of their diagnosis.

Behavior Characteristic of Autism #1:

• Smiling, or lack thereof.
• A baby should smile at the sound of your voice by the end of 2 months.
• A baby should smile at people by the end of 3 months.
• If your child is not smiling at you or at other people by the end of these developmental milestones you need to enquire about this.  Children diagnosed with autism often do not respond to family and seem very distant and unresponsive and unemotional.

Behavior Characteristic of Autism #2:

• Lack of Attention to People or Objects

By the end of 4 months a baby should be:

• Following and reacting to bright colors, movements, and objects.
• Turning towards sounds.
• Showing interest in watching people’s faces.

By the end of 6 months your child should be:

• relating to you with joy.
• crying when unhappy.
• cooing and babbling when happy.

Part of the behavior characteristics of autism is that they seem very distant and not reactive to objects and people.  Also, due to sensory issues as being one of the major behavior characteristics of autism you will find that they may not respond to sound or pain in the same way.  This may mean that the child will not cry after falling down and hurting themselves because they interpreted that stimuli differently.

If your child is not reaching any of these milestones you should be concerned that they could be displaying behavior characteristics of autism.  It is not to be alarmed but you should be getting professional opinions as waiting it out may mean valuable treatment time has been lost.  The second you suspect your child of displaying behavior characteristics of autism you need to talk to someone so that a treatment plan can be developed.
There are many more developmental milestones out there and you should review them.  These are the basic ones that would give you an indication if your child was displaying the behavior characteristics of autism.

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