Recent studies have suggested that skill acquisition rates for children with autism spectrum disorders receiving early interventions can be predicted by child motivation. We examined whether level of interest during an Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule assessment at 2?years predicts subsequent rates of verbal, nonverbal, and adaptive skill…

Daily living skills (DLS), such as personal hygiene, meal preparation, and money management, are important to independent living. Research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder exhibit impairments in daily living skills relative to their cognitive skills. This study examined predictors of daily living skills attainment and…

Minicolumnar changes that generalize throughout a significant portion of the cortex have macroscopic structural correlates that may be visualized with modern structural neuroimaging techniques. In magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of fourteen autistic patients and 28 controls, the present study found macroscopic morphological correlates to recent…

Sensori-motor development and performance of daily living skills (DLS) remain little explored in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The objective of this study was to determine the impact of sensori-motor skills on the performance of DLS in preschool children with ASD. Thirty-five children, 3-4 years of age, were recruited and assessed…

Part Two of the article focuses on the development of manual motor skills in learning disabled children. After a discussion of test methods, the author considers aspects of a medical examination, including a general exam, a neurological exam, an electroencephalogram, and a diagnostic test of hand/motor skill development. (For Part One, see EC 123…

The developmental curriculum of the Parent-Child Early Education Saturday School for 4-year-olds is presented, and the specific skill competencies and curriculum activities used in the program are described under three major behavioral categories: language skills, gross and fine motor coordination, and math and science concepts. (Some attention is…

A 30-minute screening battery of tests and subtests selected from the complete 90-minute battery used in USOE Prekindergarten-Kindergarten research plus three locally developed instruments were identified as the most satisfactory single measures of cognitive, motor, auditory, visual, visual-motor coordination, and language development to provide…