Common signs include finding social interaction effortful in ways others don’t seem to experience, difficulty with conversational timing and unspoken social rules, literal interpretation of language, significant sensory sensitivities, strong need for routine with distress when it’s disrupted, deep focused interests, exhaustion following social situations that’s disproportionate to the activity, and a lifelong sense of being different without a clear explanation. No one experiences all of these — the meaningful signal is a consistent pattern present since childhood across multiple areas of life.