What Are the Symptoms of Autism?
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The core symptoms of autism are:
Social communication challenges and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
Symptoms of autism may:
Begin in early childhood (though they may go unrecognized) persist and interfere with daily living.
Specialized healthcare providers diagnose autism using a checklist of criteria in the two categories above. They also assess autism symptom severity. Autism’s severity scale reflects how much support a person needs for daily function.
Many people with autism have sensory issues. These typically involve over- or under-sensitivities to sounds, lights, touch, tastes, smells, pain and other stimuli.
Autism is also associated with high rates of certain physical and mental health conditions.

Social communication challenges
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Children and adults with autism have difficulty with verbal and non-verbal communication. For example, they may not understand or appropriately use:

• Spoken language (around a third of people with autism are nonverbal)
• Gestures
• Eye contact
• Facial expressions
• Tone of voice
• Expressions not meant to be taken literally

Restricted and repetitive behaviors
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Restricted and repetitive behaviors vary greatly across the autism spectrum. They can include:

• Repetitive body movements (e.g. rocking, flapping, spinning, running back and forth) 
• Repetitive motions with objects (e.g. spinning wheels, shaking sticks, flipping levers)
• Staring at lights or spinning objects
• Ritualistic behaviors (e.g. lining up objects, repeatedly touching objects in a set order)
• Narrow or extreme interests in specific topics
• Need for unvarying routine/resistance to change (e.g. same daily schedule, meal menu, clothes, route to school) 

Additional social challenges can include difficulty with:
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• Recognizing emotions and intentions in others
• Recognizing one’s own emotions
• Expressing emotions
• Seeking emotional comfort from others
• Feeling overwhelmed in social situations
• Taking turns in conversation
• Gauging personal space (appropriate distance between people)

This information and more can be found on the following website.
What Are the Symptoms of Autism? | Autism Speaks