In a study of contingency awareness in four young severely handicapped, nonambulatory children with voluntary control over eye movements, all children demonstrated longer duration of visual fixation to the sensory stimulation display during sessions of contingent stimulation. (Author/CL)

Following a review of the literature on responses of autistic persons to environmental stimulation, three experiments are detailed which examine the relationship between modality preference and rate of acquisition of a discrimination task. First, seven autistic children's preference for colored lights and/or simple tones was assessed in a sensory…