As previously mentioned, it's a neurological disorder. A problem with the brain's 'wiring' so messages can be slow and/or jumbled in getting through to the brain. Autism affects many different areas; Social, Behavioural, Communication and often the Senses. Autism is part of the Autism Spectrum Disorders including Aspergers, PDD-NOS, Rhett's, Fragile X and of course Autism (classical). It is referred to as a spectrum to attempt to illustrate how widely varying the disorder can be. An Autistic person can be profoundly both mentally and physically disabled, or in the case of Aspergers, be 'a little odd' but otherwise indeterminable from any other person in the 'normal' population. There is constant debate in the medical world over diagnostic symptoms and labels. There is fierce debate over whether the Aspergers label will stand alone in the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) or be absorbed into the Autism label, and whether 'high functioning' Autism really exists, and if and how it differs from Aspergers.
Common Social markers for Autism may include limited eye contact or avoidance, limited or absent social intuition, not being able to read social situations, cues and body language, may not point at objects or use hand gestures, can not read or understand emotions. In play they do not tend to seek out other children, often lack imaginative play and often play with toys in an odd manner. For example, one of Alex's favourite things to do is find every matchbox car he owns and line them all up perfectly in a row, all facing the same direction. When he has run out of cars to line up, he will often start a new line. If you try and disrupt the line, or try and make the cars drive normally, he will get very distressed. Rather than play with a truck or wagon 'normally', he likes to turn the wagon upside down and spin the wheels. He can do this for an hour or more.
A common Communication problem Autistic children have is delayed/limited speech. They may grow to have a more varied vocabulary, but still not construct full sentences, or give instructions. ‘Echolalia’ is very common in Autistic children. This means they can repeat language, but not necessarily understand the language, or use that word in their every day vocabulary. We can say to Alex "would you like a drink" and his response can be "drink" rather than "Yes". A lot of Autistic children have difficulty understanding and following instructions. "Give me the block and sit on the chair" may be too much for them to comprehend at once. They often find it easier if you keep it to short concise instructions. Autistic children may display repetitive language, repeating the same word or words over and over. Alex has a lot of difficulty with pronouns in his speech. If you say "where's your ...." or "would you like......" he often won't understand, where as if you say "where's Alex's ......" or "would Alex like......." he'll understand perfectly. He'll often even get that jumbled as well and when looking for his shoes he'll say "where's your shoes?" not "where's my shoes".
The most common Behavioural symptom in Autism is repetitiveness. Autistic children are typically incredibly routine focused. Sheldon makes a shining example of this on The Big Bang Theory in that he can't possibly have Chinese on a Friday night because Friday night is pizza night or something to that effect. Routines must be carried out just so, in the correct order or the child may become upset or confused. Children may focus on one very small part of a toy with great intensity, either just spinning the wheel of a car, or getting down on the same level as the car and moving the car back and forth in front of their eyes, watching the wheels. Self stimulatory behaviours such as hand flapping, rocking back and forth and toe walking are also quite common.
Not all Autistic children have sensory issues, but most often they will. Some can't stand the touch or feel of certain fabrics on their skin, while with others, certain fabrics can send them in to a 'trance'. I've heard of more than one Autistic child who was entranced by corduroy fabric. He'd sit there, for hours on end just feeling the ridges. Some Autistic children are very sensitive to noises; loud busy places like shopping centres overload them, they run and hide if you turn on the vacuum cleaner and they're terrified by hand driers. Some Autistic children suffer from visual sensitivities; they can't stand fluorescent lights, and if a room is too busy with colours and pictures they can't focus. Smell can be another issue; some can't stand to be within 20 metres of the fish shop whilst others will insist on following you into The Body Shop and need to smell everything intently. Even taste/texture can be an issue with Autistic children. Some prefer very plain tasting things and will prefer to eat plain bread and chicken, others can't stand crunchy things like stir fried broccoli.
As you can see, Autism is no one particular behaviour or symptom. It's a varying degree of many issues, some of which I have not even mentioned. The most important thing is that we love and support these children and give them the understanding that they need.
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