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Here is what he wrote to introduce himself:

"My name is John. I am 12 years of age. I live in a world called Earth, which is the third planet from the Sun, which is 146 million kilometres from the sun. Talking to strangers is something i don't usually do. I do not like talking to strangers because of Stranger Danger which they tell us about at school, which is where a strange man offers you sweets or a ride in his car because he wants to do sex with you.

People keep telling me i am different, my mother tells me i am special. I don't really notice the other kids at school. I have a brother who goes to a different school. I go to a special school for special people like me.

I do the same things everyday. I like it this way because I like to know when everything is going to happen. i wake up everyday and clean my teeth and wash my face and I will run 3 times around the flowerpot and twice around the television screen every morning at 7.22 every morning before putting my school clothes on and packing my bag and catch the bus to school."
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As our first report, we will describe the signs and symptoms of autistic people such as John.

Autism causes kids to experience the world differently from the way most other kids do. Kids with autism have difficulty talking to others and expressing themselves through the use of words. Kids who have autism usually keep to themselves and many of them are unable to communicate without special help. Symptoms of autism may increase in severity when the child enters adolescence and often decrease in severity during adulthood.

- Difficulty in making connections

They also may react to what's going on around them in unusual ways. Kids with autism often cannot make connections that other kids make easily. For example, when someone smiles, most people are able to link the smile to the person being happy or friendly. However, a kid with autism may have trouble connecting that smile with the person's happy feelings.

An autistic kid also has trouble linking words to their meanings. Imagine trying to understand what your mom is saying if you didn't know what her words really mean. It is doubly frustrating then if a kid cannot come up with the right words to express his or her own thoughts and feelings.

- Barrier – difficulty making sense of the world

If someone has autism, his or her brain has trouble with an important job: making sense of the world. Every day, your brain interprets the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that you experience. If your brain couldn't help you understand these things, you would have trouble functioning, talking, going to school, and doing other everyday stuff. Kids can be mildly affected by autism, so that they only have a little trouble in life, or they can be very affected, so that they need a lot of help.

- Problems in 3 crucial areas of development – social skills, language, behaviour

If a child has autism, he or she may develop normally for the first few months or years of life, and gradually become less responsive to his or her surroundings and other people, even including the child’s parents. In general, children with autism have problems in three crucial areas of development

- Social skills, language and behavior

Social skills – Children who are autistic appear unaware of the world around them. Autistic children tend to have poor eye contact, and are usually unresponsive to normal teaching methods verbal clues. Thus, they may fail to respond when his or her name is called, and may appear to be deaf despite having normal hearing. He or she may also resist cuddling and holding, and generally appears to be unaware of others’ feelings, making them seem rather insensitive. Autistic children, as they have trouble understanding the world around them, may seem to prefer playing and doing things alone, thus retreating into a world of their own, which make them seem like they are indifferent to their surroundings.

Language – Autistic children tend to start talking much later than normal children, and may even lose previously acquired ability to say words or sentences. Thus, they may not be able to start and/or continue a conversation. They also tend not to make eye contact when they ask for something, and may speak with abnormal tones; they may use a singing voice or a robotic voice. They can also repeat verbs or phrases, yet not know how to use them (echolalia). Due to their impaired language development, they often have difficulty expressing needs (thus using gestures instead of words) and may laugh, cry or show distress for unknown reasons.

Behaviour - Autism causes kids to act in unusual ways. They might flap their hands, say certain words over and over and have temper tantrums. They may play only with one particular toy, or display a lack of interest in toys. Most kids with autism dislike changes in routines. They like to stay on a schedule that is always the same, thus developing specific routines, and dislike having changes in schedules. They also may insist that their toys or other objects be arranged a certain way and get upset if these items are moved or disturbed. Autistic people often display abnormal reactions to sensory stimuli (senses may be over- or underactive), so they may be unusually bothered by and are extra-sensitive to light, sound and touch, so much so that they may feel uncomfortable.

John said this today:

‘My teacher once asked me why 4 red cars in a row made it a Good Day, and 3 red cars in a row made it a Quite Good Day, and 5 red cars in a row made it a Super Good Day, and 4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don’t speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don’t eat my lunch. He said that I was clearly a very logical person, so he was surprised that I should think like this because it wasn’t very logical.’

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This clearly shows that what seems logical to an autistic person may not be logical to a normal person. Autistic people ‘like things to be in a nice order’, just like John, which was why he ‘had Good Days and Black Days’, based on the number and colours of the cars he saw each day, which clearly didn’t make any sense to ordinary people.

This concludes our research on the signs and symptoms of autism.

Jia Ying