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Level 1: "Requiring Support"

Difficulty initiating social interactions and atypical responses to others. Children with ASD may appear to have a decreased interest in social interactions. Their attempts to make friends are odd and usually unsuccessful. They may also have difficulty switching between activities and have a problem with organization and planning.

Level 2: "Requiring Substantial Support"
Deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills and limited initiation of an interaction with someone else.They have social impairments even with supports in place. They may speak simple sentences, their interaction is limited, and odd nonverbal communication .They have a very difficult time coping with changes, and it is difficult for them to change focus or what they are doing.Restricted and repetitive behavior appear frequently enough where it is obvious to other people and it interferes with their functionality.

Level 3: "Requiring very substantial support"

Severe impairments in functioning caused by deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication. Very limited initiation of interactions with others. A child with a Level 3 may rarely initiate interactions and if they do it is only to get their needs met.They have an extreme difficulty coping with change and have great distress and difficulty changing focus or action.

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- This term isn't included in the DSM-V, but clinicians, therapists, teachers, parents and those with ASD Level-1 can use the term.

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- Impaired theory of mind : refers to the ability to recognize and understand the thoughts, beliefs, desires, and intentions of other people in order to make sense of their behavior and predict what they are going to do next
- Weak central coherence : students with Autism are remarkably good at attending to detail, but appear to have considerable difficulty perceiving and understanding the overall picture or gist of something
- Impaired executive function : includes organizational and planning abilities, working memory, inhibition and impulse control, time management and prioritizing and using new strategies

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnostic Criteria:

Deficits in social communication and social interactions across multiple contexts.

Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity like abnormal social approach and no back and forth conversation. Reduced sharing of interests or emotions with others. Failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

Deficits in nonverbal communication behaviors like poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication. Abnormalities in eye contact and body language, deficit in understanding use of gestures. There is also a lack of facial expressions.

Deficits in social interactions like developing,maintaining, and understanding relationships. Examples include difficulty adjusting behavior to suit his or her environment, difficulty sharing imaginative play, making friends, and/or absence of interest in other people like their peers.

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1. Social Reasoning: there are many different scales to social reasoning in children with ASD. Some children actively avoid social interactions. The child may be passive. And some can tolerate social interaction with encouragement and can initiate social contact, but they do this to get whatever they may need.
2. Abilities: Language abilities varies depending on the person. The severest expression of impaired communication for children who have an ASD is the silent child who has a vocabulary of sounds, but not of words. Next level is when children can identify what they see like an object, and they can use sentences that they have heard before on tv.  Echolalia: Immediately echoing the utterance of someone.
3. Cognition: This spectrum begins with a child who has learning difficulties and intellectual impairment as assessed on a standardized intelligence scale. Some of the children with the disorder may be interested and have advanced skills with construction toys or puzzles.  Different learning style.
4. Special Interests: Children with ASD are usually known for having a range of intense or special interest that might change in focus and complexity over years. The first stage is preoccupation with parts of objects.  The next stage is gaining of information and remembering facts about the topic. The last one is when the interest changes.  Or the child replaces one interest with something else.
5. Sensor Sensitivity:  In some of the severest cases children may feel like they are in a war zone that has sudden explosions of noises, visual sensations that are sometimes blinding, and touch and smell can be frightening. The child might be hyper-vigilant.   A sensory meltdown is when sensory experiences have been overwhelming and unavoidable for the child.
6. Expression and Management of Emotions: Some individuals with ASD have a hard time expressing how they feel and they have a hard time enjoying affection.  There are now theoretical  and neurological models of why ASD is tied in  with difficulties in communicating emotions.