Autism Awareness Month Quiz #2 - Levels of Autism

Elena works as a data analyst. She can spot a single incorrect digit in a 1,000-row spreadsheet in seconds—a skill she calls her "autistic superpower." While she is independent, she finds crowded offices so overwhelming that she requires a dedicated quiet room to work.

4-year-old Ben spends hours looking at how the wheels of his toy trucks spin. When his name is called, he rarely responds, and he shows little interest in "pretend play," such as feeding a doll or playing "house".

Jordan can name every train station and schedule in the city. At lunch, he talks about trains for 20 minutes without noticing that his friends have stopped responding. He struggles to make eye contact and finds "unspoken" social rules confusing.

Chloe frequently spins in circles and loves to press her face against vibrating surfaces like the washing machine. While she struggles with back-and-forth conversation, she finds intense comfort in repetitive physical sensations and often flaps her hands when excited.

Alex is a 25-year-old software engineer. He is highly verbal but often takes figures of speech literally. When his boss said, "Break a leg" before a presentation, Alex became genuinely concerned and explained why he didn't want to get injured. He has a deep, all-consuming interest in 19th-century clock mechanisms.

Sam is 10 years old and does not use spoken language. He uses a tablet with specialized software to communicate his basic needs, like "hungry" or "bathroom." He often rocks back and forth and requires constant supervision to ensure his safety in public spaces.

Sarah is a college student who appears "typical" in brief social interactions. However, she reveals that she has "scripts" memorized for small talk and spends hours after social events exhausted from "performing." She is hypersensitive to the sound of fluorescent lights, which others don't notice.

Maya, age 7, must take the exact same route to school every day. If her mom takes a detour due to roadwork, Maya experiences extreme distress and a meltdown that lasts for over an hour. She rarely initiates play with other children and prefers to line up her toy cars by color.

12-year-old Marcus does not use verbal speech and often communicates through physical leading—grabbing his caregiver's hand to take them to the refrigerator. He has a very limited diet of only four "safe" foods and will gag if a new texture is introduced. In public, he often "bolts" toward water or bright lights without realizing the danger of traffic, requiring him to have one-on-one support at all times to prevent injury.