The following symptoms and complaints may indicate autism:
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Age-independent deficits
- Social interaction and communication:
- Interaction disorders refer to the initiation, maintenance and formation of interpersonal relationships in the context of family, friendship, partnership, as well as peers in kindergarten, school and work.
- Disorders of communication relate on the one hand to language development, on the other hand in particular to non-verbal communication including gestures, facial expressions or gaze behavior. In cognitively well gifted affected also paraverbal performance such as understanding transferred meaning in proverbs and humor or irony.
- Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities include special interests, ritualized daily routines, and a strong aversion to change in one’s circumstances.
- These phenomena must exist from early childhood and remain present throughout life.
Asperger’s syndrome
Patients with Asperger syndrome (AS) display three core autistic symptoms:
- “Social interaction disorder”
- Z. E.g., lack of or limited socioemotional reciprocity; difficulty in informal conversational situations (small talk).
- “Disruption of communication”
- Z. E.g., nonverbal signals are understood only to a limited extent or not at all; eye contact, facial expressions, and gestures for communication are used only to a limited extent; transferring meanings of verbal communication (e.g., metaphors, irony) are understood only to a limited extent or not at all
- “Restricted interests and repetitive behavior patterns”
- Striking interest in special interests; useless-seeming orderliness preferences; ritualized daily routines and a strong aversion to changes in one’s circumstances.
Every second affected person with AS suffers from comorbid anxiety disorders or depression. The following symptoms and complaints may indicate Asperger syndrome:
- Delayed motor development
- Coordination disorders
- Aloofness
- Impairment of verbal and nonverbal communication (conspicuous use of language).
- Contact deficits, both social and emotional (conspicuous eye contact; socially awkward, maladaptive, or odd behavior)
- Irritability
- Ritualized routines (as well as time-consuming special interests).
- Relatively normal mental development
- Relatively normal intelligence
Other clues
- Asperger syndrome (AS) can be distinguished from early childhood autism (FA) by the lack of linguistic-cognitive development in the first years of life.
- In a “mild” autistic symptom expression, social-communicative and interactional deficits can be compensated by high social-cognitive compensatory performance of the affected person.
- In threshold situations (e.g., moving out of the parental home, career change, partnership desire), the non-intuitive compensation mechanisms are often too rigid.
Diagnostic criteria of Asperger syndrome in adults (according to the ADULT Asperger Assessment (AAA).
Domains | Subtopics |
A: Qualitative impairment of social interaction (≥ 3 of 5 domains). |
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B: Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior and interests (≥ 3 of 5 domains). |
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C: Qualitative impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication (≥ 3 of 5 areas. |
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D: Impairment of imagination (≥ 1 of 3 domains). |
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E: Necessary conditions (all ranges): |
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Kanner syndrome
Early childhood autism/profound developmental disorder with:
- Contact disorder
- Encapsulation
- Fear of change
- Monotonous crying of the infant
- Severely delayed speech development to mutism (speech inhibition).
- Ability of abstract thinking is significantly limited
- Motor stereotypies such as repetitive movements.
- Sensory disturbances such as decreased sensitivity to pain.
Mahler syndrome
- Symbiotic psychosis: very strong fixation of the affected person to the mother.
Psychogenic autism
- Reactive autism following severe psychological trauma.
Somatogenic autism
- Autistic symptomatology that is organically caused by the brain.