To investigate the relationship between cognitive and social functioning, 20 Israeli individuals with HFASD aged 8-12 and 22 age, maternal education, and receptive vocabulary-matched preadolescents with typical development (TYP) came to the lab with a close friend. Measures of abstract reasoning, friendship quality, and dyadic interaction during a…

The role played by social relationship variables (attachment security; mother-child relationship qualities) and social-cognitive capacities (theory of mind) was examined in both observed friendship behaviors and in children's descriptions of friendships (age 8-12) with high functioning children with autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) (n = 44) and…

Helping and cooperation are central to human social life. Here, we report two studies investigating these social behaviors in children with autism and children with developmental delay. In the first study, both groups of children helped the experimenter attain her goals. In the second study, both groups of children cooperated with an adult, but…

Objective: The study was to examine nonverbal communication in young children with autism. Methods: The participants were 23 young children with autism (mean CA = 32.79 months), 23 CA and MA-matched children with developmental delay and 22 18-20-month-old, and 22 13-15-month-old typically developing toddlers and infants. The abbreviated Early…

Thirty-one infant siblings of children with autism and 24 comparison infants were tested at 6 months of age during social interaction with a caregiver, using a modified Still Face paradigm conducted via a closed-circuit TV-video system. In the Still Face paradigm, the mother interacts with the infant, then freezes and displays a neutral,…