This study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-implemented intervention designed to replace prelinguistic behaviors with functional communication in four young children with autism. Teachers encouraged use of specific communication forms to replace specific prelinguistic behaviors. During intervention, the replacement forms increased and…

This study compared sibling relationships of children with autism, with Down syndrome, or with normal development. Siblings of children with autism had relationships characterized by less intimacy, prosocial behavior, and nurturance than siblings of the comparison groups. Siblings of children with either autism or Down syndrome reported less…

This study performed a factor analysis of the Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC) with 531 children and adolescents with mental retardation. The DBC is intended to assess psychopathology in youth with mental retardation. Findings indicated substantial overlap with the factor analyses of the scale's developers and high levels of internal…

Attention processes in 103 children and adults with high functioning autism were compared with a matched control group using a battery of attention measures. Differences were found only on tasks which placed demands on cognitive flexibility or psychomotor speed, suggesting that purported attention deficits in autism may actually be primary…

This study compared the social problem solving skills of 15 adolescents with Asperger's syndrome with 15 typically developing adolescents. Subjects were presented with videotaped scenarios. The Asperger's group showed deficiencies in recounting pertinent facts, generating possible high-quality problem solutions, and selecting optimal and preferred…

This observational study of the social interactions of 16 children with autism or Down syndrome in their homes found that differences in the frequencies and complexities of children's behaviors depended on behavioral intent in both groups. Socially intended behaviors were less frequent, less self-initiated, and less complex in children with…

This study examined conceptual relationships in semantic memory using an indirect priming technique in high-functioning autistic adolescents and controls. The autistic subjects and controls showed similar semantic priming effects. However, correlations with nonverbal cognitive measures for the autistic subjects suggests that semantic processing in…

Comparison of the reading of rhymes by 20 children with cognitive disabilities (Down syndrome or autism) and 20 typically developing children (all matched for word recognition skills) found both groups were more similar than dissimilar in their rhyme-recognition accuracy, miscues, and grapheme-phoneme knowledge. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Twenty children with autism, ages 3 to 6 years, received either massage therapy or reading attention by their parents for 15 minutes daily for one month. Evaluation suggested that children in the massage group exhibited less stereotypic behavior and showed more on-task and social relatedness behavior during play observations at school, and they…

The "Behavior Problems Inventory" (BPI) is a behavior rating instrument for self-injurious, stereotypic, and aggressive/destructive behavior in mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Evaluation with 432 residents in a developmental center found the BPI to be a reliable (retest reliability, internal consistency, and…

This study examined the understanding of others' intentions in 21/2- to 5-year-old children with autism and a control group of children with other developmental delays. No significant between-group differences were found, although within-group patterns suggested that children with autism may have a slightly less complex understanding of others'…

This study examined whether children with high-functioning autism have a dissociation between explicit and implicit memory abilities characteristic of medial temporal lobe amnesic disorder. Children (N=14 and ages 6-14) with autism showed intact implicit and explicit memory abilities but did not show typical memory patterns, suggesting they used…

This paper reports on two studies that compared the memory of children with autism for personally experienced events with that of memory for events experienced by a peer. The children with autism recalled events performed by themselves significantly less well than observed events performed by a peer. The opposite was true for typical children and…

This study reports on the long-term course of 11 patients with childhood onset schizophrenia (COS). Patients were examined twice (mean follow-up period 38 years after onset). Various temporary premorbid behavioral peculiarities were precursors of COS. The nature of the diagnostic subtypes varied markedly across the course of the illness with…

A review of research on the adaptive behavior of persons with both mental retardation and autism/pervasive developmental disorder finds the performances of these dually disabled individuals to be particularly poor in the domain of social skills/socialization and somewhat less poor in the communication domain. In addition, autistic mentally…