The simple idea
Autism is not "a child who doesn't make eye contact." It's a pattern across two domains:
- Social communication & interaction — difficulty with back‑and‑forth conversation, reading social cues, gestures, facial expressions, and building relationships.
- Restricted & repetitive patterns — repetitive movements or speech, insistence on sameness, distress at unexpected change, intense narrow interests, and unusual responses to sights, sounds, or textures.
| The two domains (both needed) | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Social communication | back‑and‑forth talk, cues, gestures, relationships |
| Restricted & repetitive | repetition, sameness, narrow interests, sensory responses |
One symptom alone means little; it's the pattern across both domains that counts.
An important myth to drop 🚩
Autism can be missed. A child can speak fluently, make eye contact, do well academically, and seem socially interested — and still be autistic. Don't rule it out because of good eye contact or good language. It's also under‑recognised in girls, and older children may have learned to mask their difficulties.
A picture for your mind
A 5‑year‑old who is very distressed whenever the routine changes, talks endlessly about trains, struggles with two‑way conversation, and has repetitive hand movements — that's a pattern across domains, not one isolated quirk.
Quick check ✅
- What are the two domains that define autism?
- Why can't you rule out autism just because a child makes eye contact?
Remember this 🌟
Where we're going next → How thinking and learning can develop differently — Concept 32.