Communication difficulties

Some children with autism develop no speech. They do not speak. Other children with autism may seem to develop normally up to two years of age, and then suddenly they lose their ability completely. Also, they do not try to make themselves understood with gestures. Although their vocabulary and ways of talking are developing, children with autism have difficulties in initiating and maintaining conversations with others. They may have a so-called echo speech, they repeat what they've just heard, often in a monotonous voice. Children and adolescents with autism have difficulties understanding symbols, humour and irony, and what others say they interpret literally. They have difficulties in spontaneous play games and in imitating the play mates as they play.