This springs from a recent thread, Gifted or Asperger's?

Similar to giftedness, people seem to agree that early identification/diagnosis and intervention/remediation provide the best opportunity for an individual with ASD.

Also similar to giftedness, ASD is believed to be heritable, yet like giftedness there is not, at this time, a known genetic marker for positive identification. Therefore for giftedness and/or ASD, identification is based on history including developmental milestones, observation including comparison with same-age peers, and tests which are believed to reveal achievement/accomplishment in various academic/intellectual and social/emotional areas. It is often helpful for parents and teachers to be aware of typical traits, however identification/diagnosis is done by professionals.

Theory of Mind among persons on the Autism Spectrum was discussed as the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ASD emerged:

Most people on the autism spectrum can at least partially compensate behaviorally despite experiencing continued underlying struggles because of having severe deficits in implicit (automatic, unconscious, spontaneous) social cognition but abilities in explicit (effortful, conscious, systematic) social cognition 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103. Implicit social cognition includes sensorimotor (embodied) perception, such as in “reading” nonverbal cues (like facial expressions and other body language or movement),104,105 and people tend to struggle with this throughout the spectrum and lifespan106,107,108,109, even those who no longer appear autistic behaviorally in some diagnostic assessments,110 although some learn (e.g., “reading” eyes) intellectually111. Similarly, many children on the autism spectrum can only understand others’ basic movements when they have access to contextual information112 or imitate when they have explicit information like goals113.

Therefore children and adults on the spectrum often can perform social or other tasks when effortful114 or prompted.115,116

As these explicit social cognitive skills require some attention and executive functioning or reasoning abilities, 117,118,119 people on the autism spectrum often perform better in research on their cognitive flexibility120,121 in addition to social skills (e.g., competent “reciprocity” skills in the lab by preadolescence122) than they do in daily life, as these artificial, formal (diagnostic) settings might prime us to certain expectations and motivations, especially as we gain awareness and experience over time. Thus, under clinical examination a person on the autism spectrum might apply more conscious attention and effort that would be too difficult or unlikely in “real-life” situations. In short, many reactions or instincts that most people might process automatically and unconsciously, are for those of us on the autism spectrum more likely to be done in a deliberate and conscious fashion, leading to a greater likelihood of functional deficits or other challenges as a result of the laborious effort associated with such learned behavior.

These nuances help to explain why people on the autism spectrum’s social communication deficits have a greater tendency to reduce over time, while the repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests are more stable — a pattern found throughout life123,124,125,126,127,128.

To address the likelihood that these characteristics of ASD may impair the sensitivity of the diagnosis, ASAN has proposed two primary recommendations regarding social communication:
· Shift the number of traits required to meet the Social Communication Domain of the ASD diagnosis from three of three to two of three. Our preference is that this be done across the lifespan, reflecting the challenges of identifying inherently contextual traits in clinical settings. However, should the Workgroup not be willing to pursue this route, we propose that the criteria be shifted to two of three specifically for adolescents and adults age 14 and above.
· Linking the Social Communication Disorder diagnosis to the autism spectrum.
Notes 99, 102, 105, 109, 111 refer to resources having Theory of Mind in their title.