There is a growing body of opinion that we should view autism as fractionable into different, largely independent sets of clinical features. The alternative view is that autism is a coherent syndrome in which principal features of the disorder stand in intimate developmental relationship with each other. Studies of congenitally blind children…

Although researchers have identified many promising teaching strategies and intervention programs for children with autism spectrum disorder, research on implementation of these interventions in school settings has lagged. Barriers to implementation include incompletely developed interventions, limited evidence of their utility in promoting…

In this theoretical note, possible neural causes of episodic memory impairment in individuals with ASD and currently normal intellectual and linguistic function are considered. The neural causes most commonly argued for are hippocampal or prefrontal cortex dysfunction, associated with impaired neural connectivity. It is argued here that a…

A 14-year-old male with autism and mild mental retardation developed malignant catatonia characterized by classic symptoms of catatonia, bradycardia and hypothermia. Bilateral electroconvulsive therapy and lorazepam were required for resolution. The case expands the occurrence of catatonia in autism into its malignant variant.

The pica phenomenon, where non-edible substances are repeatedly consumed, has been linked with developmental and behavioural disorders, particularly autism. The clinical presentation of foreign body ingestion in patients with autism is discussed, and recommendations for caregivers are provided based on the available literature. An 18-year-old man…

Although autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to the general public might mainly be associated with social impairments, there is of course a long standing tradition--reflected in the very term "autism" from the Greek term for self "autos"--for also considering it as a disorder of self and self-understanding. With the many contributions to this special…

My aim in this paper is to present reasons for adopting a focus on the development of self/other-awareness when characterizing the developmental psychopathology of autism. The strengths of such a position include an emphasis on children's emotional relations with embodied persons as foundational for their growing understanding of minds. I give…

This article describes a parallel and distributed processing model (PDPM) of joint attention, self-referenced processing and autism. According to this model, autism involves early impairments in the capacity for rapid, integrated processing of self-referenced (proprioceptive and interoceptive) and other-referenced (exteroceptive) information.…

Parents of children with developmental disabilities, particularly autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), are at risk for high levels of distress. The factors contributing to this are unclear. This study investigated how child characteristics influence maternal parenting stress and psychological distress. Participants consisted of mothers and…

JS is a highly able person with Asperger syndrome whose language and intellectual abilities are, and always have been, superior. The first part of this short article consists of JS's analytical account of his atypical memory abilities, and the strategies he uses for memorizing and learning. JS has also described specific difficulties with creative…

The age of detection of autism varies and may be linked to differences in the severity of disturbance and any associated retardation. Symptom intensity, overall language level, age of recognition of first disturbances and level of psychological development were examined in 222 children with pervasive developmental disorder with a mean age of 5…

A survey of parents/caregivers of a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was conducted to examine the relationship between ASD characteristics, family functioning and coping strategies. Having a child with ASD places considerable stress on the family. Primary caregivers of a child with ASD from a regional and rural area in Victoria,…

This article examines the existence, description, perception, treatment, and outcome of symptoms consistent with autistic disorder in nineteenth-century London, England, based on case histories from the notes of Dr William Howship Dickinson at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Three cases meeting the DSM-IV criteria for autistic disorder…

Parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) are more likely to experience serious psychological distress than parents of children with other developmental disabilities. To examine the impact of a range of factors on psychological wellbeing, interviews were undertaken with 68 mothers of children with ASDs to explore aspects of…

The communicative capabilities of people with autism are impaired and limited in significant ways. The problems are characterized by a lack of intentionality and symbol formation, which indicates that the deviant development of communication in autism is associated with a specific cognitive style. The central coherence theory can offer insight…