Abilities from those with severe and profound learning difficulties to those of above average intelligence.
The defining characteristics of ASD are deficits in the area of -
a) Communication
b) Language
c) Social interaction and play skills.
In School of the Holy Spirit the percentage of children on our roll with a diagnosis of ASD is currently 86%.
No two children with ASD experience the world or react to it in the same way, but some common characteristics included -
- Difficulty in using verbal and non-verbal communication.
- Lack of or poor eye contact.
- Poorly developed social skills and inappropriate play skills.
- Over or under sensitivity to sound, touch, smell, taste and sight.
- Repetitive and sometimes obsessive behaviours such as spinning items, collecting objects, unchangeable routines.
- Repetitive behaviours to stimulate the senses such as flicking, humming, rocking.
- Difficulty with unstructured situations, unfamiliar events or locations, or a change in routine.
- Uneven skill development. Some skills are normal or superior for their age, while others show significant delay.
- Particular interests pursued to extremes, such as trains, timetables, and computers.
- Failure to realise the effects of their behaviour on other people. Lack of empathy.
- Sluggish or delayed information processing.