The Continuum of Autistic Characteristics

  • Lorna Wing
Chapter
Part of the Current Issues in Autism book series (CIAM)

Abstract

As a result of the accumulation of findings from biologic, psychological, and clinical research, views of the etiology and nature of childhood autism have evolved and changed since Kanner (1943) published his first description of the syndrome that bears his name. However, disagreements continue concerning the clinical criteria for diagnosis, and the boundaries between autism and other conditions in which there are impairments of skills and abnormalities of behavior.

Keywords

Developmental Disorder Autistic Child Pervasive Developmental Disorder Social Impairment Psychological Function 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. American Psychiatric Association. (3rd ed., 1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
  2. American Psychiatric Association. (3rd ed. rev., 1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
  3. Asperger, H. (1944). Die autistischen psychopathen im kindersalter. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 117, 76–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Attwood, A. (1984). The gestures of autistic children. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
  5. Baltaxe, C. A. M. (1977). Pragmatic deficits in the language of autistic adolescents. Journal of Paediatric Psychology, 2, 176–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Baron-Cohen, S. (1985). Social cognition and pretend play in autism. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
  7. Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind”? Cognition, 21, 37–46.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1986). Mechanical, behavioural and intentional understanding of picture stories in autistic children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4, 113–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Bartak, L., Rutter, M., & Cox, A. (1975). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorder. I. The children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 127–45.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Bartak, L., Rutter, M., & Cox, A. (1977). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental speech disorders. III. Discriminant function analysis. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 6, 297–302.Google Scholar
  11. Bender, L. (1947). Childhood schizophrenia: A clinical study of 100 schizophrenic children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 17, 40–56.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Bender, L. (1961). The brain and child behaviour, Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 531–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Blank, M., Gessner, M., & Esposito, A. (1979). Language without communication: a case study. Journal of Child Language, 6, 329–52.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Boucher, J. (1981). Memory for recent events in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, 293–302.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Bremerton, I., McNew, S., & Beeghley-Smith, M. (1981). Early person knowledge as expressed in gestural and verbal communication: When do infants acquire a “theory of mind”? In M. E. Lamb & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.), Infant social cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
  16. Bullowa, M. (Ed.) (1979). Before speech: the beginning of interpersonal communication. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  17. Chess, S. (1971). Autism in children with congenital rubella. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 1, 33–47.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Chess, S. (1977). Follow-up report on autism in congenital rubella. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 7, 69–81.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Chess, S., Korn, S. J., & Fernandez, P. B. (1971). Psychiatric disorders of children with congenital rubella. New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
  20. Coleman, M. & Gillberg, C. (1985). The biology of the autistic syndromes. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
  21. Cromer, R. F. (1981). Developmental language disorders: Cognitive processes, semantics pragmatics, phonology, and syntax. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11(1), 57–73.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Damasio, A. R., & Maurer, E. G. (1978). A neurological model for childhood autism. Archives of Neurology, 35, 777–86.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. DeMyer, M. (1976). Motor, perceptual-motor and intellectual disabilities of autistic children. In L. Wing (Ed.), Early childhood autism (2nd ed.). Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
  24. DeMyer, M. (1979). Parents and children in autism, Washington, D. C.: Winston.Google Scholar
  25. Denckla, M. (1983). The neuro-psychology of social-emotional learning disabilities. Archives of Neurology, 40, 461–3.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Despert, J. C. (1938). Schizophrenia in children. Psychiatric Quarterly, 12, 366–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Earl, C. J. C. (1943). The primitive catatonic psychosis of idiocy. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 14, 230–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Fay, W., & Schuier, A. L. (1980). Emerging language in autistic children. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
  29. Fein, D., Pennington, B., Markowitz, P., Braverman, M., & Waterhouse, L. (1986). Toward a neuropsychological model of autism: Are the social deficits primary? Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 198–212.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Fein, D., Skoff, B., & Mirsky, A. F. (1981). Clinical correlates of brain-stem dysfunction in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, 303–15.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Fein, D., Waterhouse, L., Lucci, D., & Snyder, D. (1985). Cognitive subtypes in developmentally disabled children; a pilot study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 15, 77–96.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Folstein, S., & Rutter, M. (1977). Infantile autism: A genetic study of 21 twin pairs. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18, 297–322.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Frith, U. (1982). Psychological abnormalities in early childhood psychoses. In J. K. Wing & L. Wing (Eds.), Handbook of psychiatry (Vol. 3). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  34. Frith, U., & Snowling, M. (1983). Reading for meaning and reading for sound in autistic and dyslexic children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1, 329–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Gillberg, C. (1983). Identical triplets with infantile autism and the Fragile X syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 256–60.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Goldfarb, W. (1974). Growth and change of schizophrenic children. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
  37. Gould, J. (1982). Social communication and imagination in children with cognitive and language impairments. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
  38. Gould, J. (1986). The Lowe & Costello Symbolic Play Test in socially impaired children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, 16, 199–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Hermelin, B., & O’Connor, N. (1985). Logico-affective states and non-verbal language. In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Communication problems in autism. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
  40. Hobson, R. P. (1986). The autistic child’s appraisal of expressions of emotion. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 27, 321–42.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Howlin, P., & Rutter, M. (1987). Treatment of autistic children. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
  42. Hulse, W. C. (1954). Dementia infantilis. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 119, 471–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, 27–250.Google Scholar
  44. Kanner, L. (1946). Irrelevant and metaphorical language in early childhood autism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 103, 242–6.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  45. Kanner, L. (1949). Problems of nosology and psychodynamics in early childhood autism. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 19, 416–26.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Kanner, L., & Eisenberg, L. (1956). Early infantile autism 1943–1955. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 26, 55–65.Google Scholar
  47. Kolvin, I. (1971). Studies in the childhood psychoses. I. Diagnostic criteria and classification. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 381–4.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Kolvin, I., Ounsted, C., Humphrey, M., & McNay, A. (1971). II. The Phenomenology of Childhood psychoses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 385–95.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Lockyer, L., & Rutter, M. (1969). A five to fifteen year follow-up study of infantile psychosis. III. Psychological aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 865–82.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Lord, C. (1984). The development of peer relations in children with autism. In F. J. Morrison, C. Lord, & D. P. Keating (Eds.), Advances in applied developmental psychology. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
  51. Luria, A. R. (1969). The mind of a mnemonist. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
  52. McTear, M. F. (1985). Pragmatic disorders: A question of direction. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 20, 119–27.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. McTear, M. F. (1985). Pragmatic disorders: A case study of conversational disability. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 20, 129–42.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Mahler, M. S. (1952). On child psychoses and schizophrenia: autistic and symbiotic infantile psychoses. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 7, 286–305.Google Scholar
  55. Mergash, D. L., Szymanski, L., & Gerald, P. (1982). Infantile autism associated with fragile X syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 12, 295–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Newson, J., & Newson, E. (1975). Intersubjectivity and the transmission of culture: On the social origins of symbolic functioning. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 28, 437–46.Google Scholar
  57. Ornitz, E. M. (1974). The modulation of sensory input and motor input in autistic children. Journal of Autism & Childhood Schizophrenia, 4, 197–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. O’Connor, N., & Hermelin, B. (1984). Idiot savant calendrical calculators: Maths or memory? Psychological Medicine, 14, 801–6.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Paul, R., & Cohen, D. J. (1984). Outcomes of severe disorders of language acquisition. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 14, 405–22.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Paul, R., Cohen, D. J., & Caparulo, B. K. (1983). A longitudinal study of patients with severe developmental disorders of language learning. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 22, 525–34.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Pawlby, S. (1977). Imitative interaction. In H. R. Schaffer (Ed.), Studies in mother-infant interaction New York: Academic.Google Scholar
  62. Rapin, I., & Allen, D. A. Developmental language disorders: Nosologic considerations. In U. Kirk (Ed.), Neuropsychology of language, reading, and spelling. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
  63. Ricks, D. M. (1975). Vocal communication in pre-verbal normal and autistic children. In N. O’Connor (Ed.), Language, cognitive deficits and retardation. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
  64. Ricks, D. M. (1979). Making sense of experience to make sensible sounds. In M. Bullowa (Ed.), Before Speech: The beginning of interpersonal communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  65. Ricks, D. M., & Wing, L. (1975). Language, communication, and the use of symbols in normal and autistic children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 5, 191–221.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  66. Rourke, B. P., Young, G. C., Strang, J. D., & Russell, D. L. (1986). Adult outcomes of central processing deficiencies in childhood. In I. Grant, and K. M. Adams (Eds.), Neuropsychological assessment of neuropsychiatric disorders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  67. Rutter, M. (1966). Behavioural and cognitive characteristics. In J. K. Wing (Ed.), Early childhood autism. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
  68. Rutter, M. (1970). Autistic children: Infancy to adulthood. Seminars in Psychiatry, 2, 435–50.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  69. Rutter, M. (1972). Psychiatric causes of language retardation. In M. Rutter and J. A. M. Marten (Eds.), The child with delayed speech, London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
  70. Sacks, O. (1985). The man who mistook his wife for a hat. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
  71. Schaffer, H. R. (1974). Early social behaviour and the study of reciprocity. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 27, 209–16.Google Scholar
  72. Schaffer, H. R. (1979). Acquiring the concept of the dialogue. In M. H. Bornstein and W. Kessen (Eds.), Psychological development from infancy: image to intention. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
  73. Schaffer, H. R., Collis, G. M., & Parsons, G. (1977). Vocal interchange and visual regard in verbal and pre-verbal children. London: Academic.Google Scholar
  74. Schawlow, A. T., & Schawlow, A. L. (1985). Our son: the endless search for help. In M. P. Brady and P. L. Gunter (Eds.), Integrating moderately and severely handicapped learners. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.Google Scholar
  75. Schopler, E. (1985). Editorial: Convergence of learning disability, higher level autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 15, 359–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  76. Schopler, E., & Mesibov, G. B. (1985). Communication problems in autism. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  77. Schopler, E., Reichler, R. J., & Lansing, M. (1979a). Individualized assessment and treatment for autistic and developmentally disabled children. Vol. 1. Psychoeducational profile. Baltimore: University Press.Google Scholar
  78. Schopler, E., Reichler, R. J., & Lansing, M. (1979b). Individualized assessment and treatment for autistic and developmentally disabled children. Vol. 2. Teaching strategies for parents and professionals. Baltimore: University Press.Google Scholar
  79. Seife, L. (1977). Nadia: A case of extraordinary drawing ability in an autistic child. London: Academic.Google Scholar
  80. Shah, A. (1985). Impairment of social interaction in autism and mental retardation: A 12 year follow up study. Paper given at the 7th World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency. New Delhi.Google Scholar
  81. Shah, A., & Wing, L. (1986). Cognitive impairments affecting social behaviour in autism. In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Social behavior problems in autism. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
  82. Shah, A., Holmes, N., & Wing, L. (1982). Prevalence of autism and related conditions in adults in a mental handicap hospital. Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 1982, 3, 303–17.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  83. Shantz, C. U. (1985). Social cognition. In J. H. Flavell and E. M. Markman (Eds.), Cognitive development: handbook of child psychology (Vol. 3). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
  84. Spitzer, R. (Chairman) (1985). Draft of DSM-III-Revised in development. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
  85. Tager-Flusberg, H. (1981). Sentence comprehension in autistic children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 2, 5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  86. Trevarthen, C. (1974). Conversations with a two-month old. New Scientist, 62, 230–5.Google Scholar
  87. Weintraub, S., & Mesulam, M. M. Developmental learning disabilities of the right hemisphere. Archives of Neurology, 40, 463-8.Google Scholar
  88. Wing, L. (1980). Autistic children: A guide for parents. London: Constable.Google Scholar
  89. Wing, L. (1981). Cognitive and social skills associated with outcome in childhood autism and related conditions. Paper given at the 25th Anniversary of the Children’s Clinic, Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kyoto University Hospital. Kyoto.Google Scholar
  90. Wing, L. (1981a). Language, social and cognitive impairments in autism and severe mental retardation. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, 31–44.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  91. Wing, L. (1981b). Asperger’s syndrome: A clinical account. Psychological Medicine, 11, 115–29.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  92. Wing, L. (1982). Development of concepts, classification and relationship to mental retardation. In J. K. Wing & L. Wing (Eds.), Psychoses of uncertain aetiology: Handbook of psychiatry (Vol. 3). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  93. Wing, L., & Gould, J. (1979). Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: Epidemiology and classification. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, 11–29.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  94. Wing, L., Gould, J., Yeates, S. R., & Brierley, L. M. (1977). Symbolic play in severely mentally retarded and in autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18, 167–78.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  95. Wing, L., & Hayhurst, M. (1973). A study of mentally retarded adults in Camberwell. In D. J. Hall., N. C. Robertson, & R. J. Eason (Eds.), Proceedings of the Conference on Psychiatric Case Registers, University of Aberdeen, March 1973. London: D.H.S.S. Statistical and Research Series No. 7, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.Google Scholar
  96. Wolff, S., & Barlow, A. (1977). Schizoid personality in childhood: A comparative study of schizoid, autistic and normal children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 20, 29–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  97. Wolff, S., & Chick, J. (1980). Schizoid personality in childhood: A controlled follow-up study. Psychological Medicine, 10, 85–100.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  98. World Health Organization. (1977). Manual of the international statistical classification of diseases, injuries and causes of death (9th rev. Vol. 1). Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1988

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lorna Wing
    • 1
  1. 1.MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of PsychiatryUniversity of LondonLondonEngland

Personalised recommendations