Yes. One of my daughters is mildly autistic. An example of odd, repetitive behavior is her habit of photographing her food with a large SLR before she eats. When I ask her why she does this, she has no answer.
When she was a toddler, she used to run away from the beach, screaming hysterically. One day my wife carried her to the beach and put her on a blanket. No problem. But as soon as her feet hit the sand, she would cry and run away. She couldn’t handle the feeling of sand on her feet.
Most people wouldn’t notice her disorder at first, but people who have known her for a time notice.
People have told me that her emotional and social maturity will be delayed, and that corresponds with our experience.
I have a son that was diagnosed with aspergergers when he was young. Other than being socially inept and “odd”, he is very high functioning. Group therapy has helped him to interact better with others.
His is a case that it is hard to tell from a distance as well. Most people just think he is weird. He has improved with a lot of patience in trying to teach him little things like saying nothing when it might hurt someones feelings. We cannot get him to tell a little white lie of any sort, which I think we could all learn something from.
The most difficult thing for me was other kids making fun of him, especially in elementary school. I used to cry myself to sleep at night.