Autism Behavior Checklist
Differences in behaviors may be noted
in the following areas:
Autism Behavior Checklist: Sensory Behaviors:
- Poor use of visual discrimination when learning
- Seems not to hear, so that a hearing loss is suspected
- Sometimes shows no “startle response” to loud noise”
- Sometimes painful stimuli such as bruises, cuts, and injections evoke no reaction
- Often will not blink when bright light is directed toward eyes
- Covers ears at many sounds
- Squints, frowns, or covers eyes when in the presence of natural light
- Frequently has no visual reaction to a “new” person
- Stares into space for long periods of time
Autism Behavior Checklist: Relating Behaviors:
- Frequently does not attend to social/environmental stimuli
- Has no social smile
- Does not reach out when reached for
- Not responsive to other people’s facial expressions/feelings
- Actively avoids eye contact
- Resists being touched or held
- Is flaccid when held in arms
- Is stiff and hard to held
- Does not imitate other children at play
- Has not developed any friendships
- Often frightened or very anxious
- “Looks through” people
Autism Behavior Checklist: Body and Object Use Behaviors:
- Whirls self for long periods of time
- Does not use toys appropriately
- Insists on keeping certain objects with him/her
- Rocks self for long periods of time
- Does a lot of lunging and darting
- Flaps hands
- Walks on toes
- Hurts self by banging head, biting hand, etc…
- Twirls, spins, and bangs objects a lot
- Will feel, smell, and/or taste objects in the environment
- Gets involved in complicated “rituals” such as lining things up, etc…
- Is very destructive
Autism Behavior Checklist: Language Behaviors:
- Does not follow simple commands given once
- Has pronoun reversal
- Speech is atonal
- Does not respond to own name when called out among two others
- Seldom says “yes” or “I”
- Does not follow simple commands involving prepositions
- Gets desired objects by gesturing
- Repeats phrases over and over
- Cannot point to more than five named objects
- Uses 0-5 spontaneous words per day to communicate wants and needs
- Repeats sounds or words over and over
- Echoes questions or statements made by others
- Uses at least 15 but less than 30 spontaneous phrases daily to communicate
Other Behaviors:
- Learns a simple task but “forgets” quickly
- Strong reactions to changes in routine/environment
- Has “special abilities” in one area of development, which seems to rule out mental retardation
- Severe temper tantrums and/or frequent minor tantrums
- Hurts others by biting, hitting, kicking, etc…
- Does not wait for needs to be met
- Difficulties with toileting
- Does not dress self without frequent help
- Frequently unaware of surroundings, and may be oblivious to dangerous situations
- Prefers to manipulate and be occupied with inanimate things
- A developmental delay was identified at or before 30 months of age