INTRODUCTION - National Trust

they may not realise if you are angry or happy. They rarely even use activities like
pointing, showing, and getting things to share their interests with others.
When they talk, their spoken language is odd. They may be talkative or very quite;
what they say tends to relate to their own needs, asking for things, or asking only
about the things they are interested in, and they will rarely use speech to ask about
other people. They may just repeat a few phrases, or they may repeat what has just
been said (“immediate echolalia”) or even a phrase that they heard yesterday As
they learn to talk they may make mistakes of a sort that other children hardly ever
make, such as getting pronouns reversed (using “you” to talk about themselves) or
inventing their own words. They may go on making mistakes long after other children
have learnt perfect grammar. Often they talk monotonously, but they may put the
emphasis on the wrong word in a sentence, or talk too loud or soft. Often they seem
to have no desire to communicate.
Rather similar communication problems can be found in other children, those with
developmental language disorders or learning disabilities, but the difficulties autistic
children have relating to other people are quite unusual. They are not just “shy”; it is
not just that they prefer their own company. Severely autistic children do not seem to
know that other people are people like them at all -they may treat them just the same
way as they treat the furniture! It is not surprising, they have real difficulties forming
social relationships and friendships; sometimes they do not even relate to their parents.
As babies, they may never have enjoyed being held and it may have been impossible
to comfort them. They may never responded to their mother smile by smiling back,
although they may have smiled when tickled or played with. While most babies start
to “talk back ,” you when you coo at them by eight weeks of age, many autistic or
PDD babies never learn this until much later, and they have great difficulties with
the normal “to and fro” of conversation, not knowing when its their turn, interrupting,
or just talking to themselves. They will not learn to “catch your eye” and many actually
try to avoid eye contact, or seem to find a direct gaze almost painful. They learn to
imitate much later than other children, not just smiles bill “funny faces” and “rude
noises” that most kids enjoy and copy by eight or months.
In the pre-school years they seem to lack interest in other children- often they are
described as “aloof” or “remote”. They are usually unable to understand or respond
to the feelings of others, so they will not get upset by a crying child or offer comfort,
to a brother in pain; this is described as “lack of empathy”. They will probably not
show much pleasure when they see you again after a separation, and may not anger
either when you have been away too long. They often do not want to share their
enjoyment or interests.
The very odd behaviours shown by children with autistic spectrum disorders can be
the most difficult to understand, and some parents and professionals find them most
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