Difficulties with paying attention Some autistic children can find it difficult to pay attention to and focus on things that don't interest them. This includes activities that involve shared attention, like reading a book with a carer, doing a puzzle, or even walking safely across the road.
Many autistic people have intense and highly-focused interests, often from a fairly young age. These can change over time or be lifelong. It can be art, music, gardening, animals, postcodes or numbers.
Associative Thinking: Most individuals on the spectrum are associative thinkers rather than linear thinkers. In other words, one thought connects to another and so on through sometimes loose or seemingly irrelevant connections.
Young people with autism may find it difficult to multitask because they stick rigidly to tasks in the order they are given to them, according to new research.
Some studies which looked at the brain activity of those with autism suggest that when presented with two tasks and told to focus on one of them, most people with autism can't shift their attention or focus. This is because an inability to understand which task is more important.
Difficulties with paying attention
It can also be difficult if children feel they can't do the task or have been sitting still for too long, or when there are distracting things going on around them. Some autistic children can find it difficult to pay attention to and focus on things that don't interest them.
Sensory Issues
Many people with autism experience sensory processing disorder. This is more commonly known as sensory overload. Noise, crowds, bright lights, strong tastes, smells, and being touched can feel unbearable to someone with HFA. This makes going to restaurants, movies, and shopping malls difficult.
Memorising and learning information quickly. Thinking and learning in a visual way. Logical thinking ability. May excel (if able) in academic areas such as science, engineering and mathematics as they are technical and logical subjects that do not heavily rely on social interaction.
High-functioning autism means that a person is able to read, write, speak, and handle daily tasks, such as eating and getting dressed independently. Despite having symptoms of autism, their behavior doesn't interfere too much with their work, school, or, relationships.
Therefore, it appears that while some individuals may be aware they are autistic, others may not fully understand why they have difficulties connecting with people socially or engaging in conversation - yet still realize they are 'different.
“Autistic people may also have trouble sorting different objects in the home. For example, we may not realize that the enormous pile of 'stuff' on the bed can be broken down into separate piles of clothes, books, papers, and trash, and therefore managed more easily.
Some autistic people may experience problems seeing with “meaning” within their visual surroundings and environment. This means they may use other sensory inputs to gain meaning because they cannot internally mentalise the image, visuals or see the significance they hold.
A few different factors converge to explain why autistic people have an “overly full head” and disorganized thoughts, as well as why we may be scatterbrained, quick to lose oversight, and more prone to overstimulation and dysregulation. All these factors are likely caused by overconnectivity in the brain.
However, the fitness tests showed that aerobic fitness, flexibility and body mass index of children with autism spectrum disorders was similar to the children without autism. The strength test was the only one that children with autism spectrum disorders did not perform as well in, the study said.
She has discovered that people on the autism spectrum have increased sensitivity to visual motion in their peripheral field of vision, which affects how they perceive their environment and where they place themselves in time and space.
Savants with autism typically show amazing skill within one or more general ability domains. Mathematical, artistic, musical, spatial and mechanical abilities are most common. Most savants have a single skills but some have been reported to have more than one.
Low functioning autism refers to children and adults with autism who show the most severe symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and are diagnosed as having Level 3 ASD. They are usually unable to live independently and require support from a guardian throughout their lives.
Reasoning in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been characterised as being slower and more effortful than controls. People with ASD show a more circumscribed reasoning bias, and often take longer to make decisions.
While cognitive empathy can be lower in people with autism, affective empathy—which is based on instincts and involuntary responses to the emotions of others—can be strong and overwhelming. In fact, newer research suggests that some people with autism may actually feel other people's emotions more intensely.
This study interviewed 9 autistic people and found that all had listening difficulties. The loudness of background noises, and the number of people talking, affected their ability to listen, as did other sights, smells, thoughts, and feelings.