• poor eye contact
• rigid thinking
• narrow interests
• socially awkward
• literal thinking – doesn’t ‘get’ subtleties, sarcasm

Autism is associated with poor social skills but it’s more awkward than impulsive, lacking eye contact or having difficulty relating to people. It’s often associated with a limited number of interests which are often taken to the n’th degree and frequently in a very narrow part of a subject to the total exclusion of the rest of that interest area. It can be associated with repetitive movements – often more complex than the simple tics that are sometimes seen in ADHD. Recent research estimates that 80% of autism patients have adhd and some have expressed the idea that they are the same thing, just at different ages – but that is controversial. Autism+ADHD used to be referred to as Aspergers Syndrome, though that has been dropped as a diagnosis in the latest DSM Manual of psychiatric diagnoses. I still find the term helpful.