Jane is Autistic

• She does not hear things as we do
• She does not see things as we do
• She cannot get around freely as we can
• Jane has many barriers to personal progress.

People with autism have said that the world, to them, is a mass of people, places and events which they struggle to make sense of, and which can cause them considerable anxiety. In particular, understanding and relating to other people, and taking part in everyday family and social life may be harder for them. Other people appear to know, intuitively, how to communicate and interact with each other, and some people with autism may wonder why they are 'different'

These behavioural difficulties can cause a great deal of stress for members of the family.
Babies who develop autism later may appear normal at first and reach the usual developmental milestones, including early speech. But as they grow into toddlers, they may fail to develop normal social behaviour and speech may be lost.
As a child grows, the typical difficulties of autistic spectrum disorders are:

• Repetitive behaviour and resistance to changes in routine
• Obsessions with particular objects or routines
• Poor coordination
• Difficulties with fine movement control (especially in Asperger syndrome)
• Absence of normal facial expression and body language
• Lack of eye contact
• Tendency to spend time alone, with very few friends
• Lack of imaginative play