Prevalence of self-injurious behavior (SIB) is as high as 50% among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Identification of risk factors for the development of SIB is critical to early intervention and prevention. However, there is little empirical research utilizing a prospective design to identify early risk factors for SIB. The purpose…

Poor reciprocity is a defining feature of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the current study, we examined the reliability and validity of the Interactive Drawing Test (IDT), a new instrument to assess reciprocal behavior. The IDT was administered to children and adolescents with ASD (n = 131) and to a typically developing group (n = 62). The…

This study examined the effectiveness of the Behavior Summarized Evaluation to discriminate 58 autistic from 58 nonautistic mentally retarded children. The measure clearly separated the two samples with between-group differences highest on four items indicating the most particular pattern in autistic children was the association of autistic…

Ten parents of preschoolers with autism and 10 parents of typical preschoolers were given the Detection of Autism by Infant Sociability Interview, which elicits reports on 19 aspects of social engagement characteristics. Findings indicate that infants with autism had marked limitations in both person-to-person and person-person-object social…