The fact that the autistic children were so impaired in language even with fairly good sensorimotor skills suggests that these skills, particularly object permanence, play a minor role in their language acquisition. (Author)

The relationship between sensorimotor performance and communicative ability in 18 autistic children (40 to 108 months old) was studied. The children were administered the Means-End and Operational Causality scales from the Ordinal Scales of Psychological Development. In addition, the Ss were assessed on four measures of verbal and nonverbal…

The study compared play among five groups of children (ages 3-7 years): normal children (N=41); those diagnosed with language delays (N=241), those with autism but normal intelligence (N=71), those with autism and mental retardation (N=97), and those with nonautistic mental deficiency (N=86). Each child was evaluated using a 25 minute structured…

Findings from relevant research applying Piaget's theory to mental retardation, psychosis, and autism are reviewed. Many autistic individuals show an arrest in operative functions at the sensorimotor functions. The early arrest interferes with subsequent development of higher-level conceptual, symbolic, and social skills. (Author)

Twelve mute children (4-12 years old), diagnosed as autistic, were studied in order to describe their sensorimotor functioning and to relate their sensorimotor performance to nonverbal communication and cognitive development. (Author/BD)

Jean Piaget's theories about children's cognitive development are applied to the evaluation of childhood psychosis. Problems with the testing of such children are described, and results of a research project that used the Piaget-inspired Uzgiris and Hunt Ordinal Scales of Psychological Development to assess autistic children's cognitive processes…