The study compared the attention-directing behaviors of 15 autistic children, 14 children with developmental language delay, and 13 young normal children. Although the autistic children's behavior was most unlike that of the other groups, autistic children did not produce more attention-directing behavior when a high degree of adult direction was…

Evaluation of social-cognitive skills in 23 young children with autism or other developmental delays found tests involving others' attention were more difficult for children with autism than tests involving others' behavior. However, the typical developmental pattern of first sharing, then following, and then directing attention or behavior was…

The predictive relation between neonatal behavior and temperament at 24 months was examined for 67 infants selected from the full socioeconomic status (SES) distribution. Initial ratings were made when the infants were one to four days old. Irritable neonates were rated as more upset, less attentive to stimuli, and less responsive to the staff at…

Toddlers with Down's syndrome (n=42) were presented with situations in which the primary focus alternated between an object stimulus and a social stimulus. The experimental subjects monitored their environment in the same manner as did the 25 control subjects (matched for mental age) during object mastery but had a more focused attention style…

A social interactive training program that focused on eye contact, joint attention, and motor imitation was implemented during regular classroom activities with three preverbal preschool children with autism. Increases in target behaviors and generalization of eye contact and motor imitation behaviors were observed. Social validation measures by…