1. Social Development
2. Behavioral Differences
3. Impaired Communications
4. Sensory Integration Difficulties
5. Incidence
6. Causation
7. Interventions

Behavioral Differences

Many people with autism have a need for stability, for routine, for sameness. Making the transition between one activity and another can be very difficult, as can be changes in routines. The tolerance for change varies from individual to individual, with some having fewer problems to those whose rigidity can be very severe. This can be exhibited in ritualistic behaviours, like eating the same thing for lunch every day in the same order, or arranging toys and furniture for hours until it is in a desired location. Some autistic people will also develop an obsession for a particular object, or an area of knowledge. This can be everything from amassing an encyclopedic knowledge about refrigerator motors or hockey statistics, to only eating crunchy foods. There is a genuine sense of fear and anxiety when routines are upset, which can make our hectic, fast paced world a very trying place to live. Autistic people can learn to overcome some of the issues around rigidity with intervention, practice and understanding.

People with autism also interact with objects differently that those who do not have autism. Children with autism do not generally engage in the same sort of 'pretend play' with their toys that normally developing children do. For example, for a normally developing child, a large cardboard box might present a host of possibilities for play - a house, a spaceship, a car - and in the process imprint his life experiences onto that play. For a child with autism, play might involve playing with the flaps on the edge of the box, or tearing the box into strips - an activity that might provide a sensory reward.