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Six papers consider various aspects of the education and treatment of emotionally disturbed children. B.S. Parsonson examines the rationale and efficacy of the application of learning theory principles to the modification of deviant behavior. The need for family therapy is discussed by J.E. Ritchie, who focuses upon the environmental causes and social context of emotional disturbance. The family is seen as a possible context for distorted communications maintained as a pathological homeostasis. Therapeutic qualities of group counseling are described by D.R. Mitchell in behavioral terms (reinforcement, modeling, desensitization) while the group is seen as a social microcosm with multiple relationships. L.G. Rhodes suggests that disturbed children are possible not best served by adjustment classes, in the light of efficacy studies and study of the effects of disability labels on teacher expectancies. Institutional care of socially maladjusted children is examined by B.C. Atwool, while Muriel Blackburn focuses on the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of autism. (KW)

Presented are proceedings of the 4th annual (1972) meeting of the National Society for Autistic Children including 11 papers given at the meeting. Listed are officers and board members of the society, the convention committee members, and recipients of citations and awards. The president's report notes past goals, accomplishments, and future goals; and the text of a resolution urges federal involvement in the needs of autistic children. The papers address the following topics: a 1972 progress report on child priority (keynote address); a community based therapeutic program; research progress in areas of vitamins, hypoglycemia, and food intolerances; a description of the Flint, Michigan program which coordinates community services with the educational system; problems in the modification of verbal behavior; a hospital based therapeutic nursery program; a prevocational training program; work with autistic children in the United Kingdom; an interview with a rehabilitated autistic adult; perceptual development in autistic children; and a followup study of childhood schizophrenia. (DB)

Sixteen papers are provided. B. F. Skinner discusses the arrangement of contingencies for learning: Lloyd Homme describes behavioral engineering; and Frank Hewett considers behavior modification in special education. Also treated are experimental education by Norris Haring, program evaluation by Arthur Lumsdaine, and administration of special classes by Harold Kunzelmann. John Cawley presents a system of initial reading instruction; Max Jerman surveys computer assisted instruction; and Thomas Robertson examines the impact of educational technology. Further papers are on teaching children with behavior disorders by Richard Whelan, developing cooperative social behavior by Laurence Peter, providing academic and social classroom management by Harold Kunzelmann, and using operant reinforcement with autistic children by Charles Ferster. In addition, Thomas Lovitt sets forth a basis for systematic replication of a contingency management classroom; Richard Kothera discusses educational environments and administration; and Max Mueller reviews trends in research in the education of the handicapped. (JD)

Selected papers from a conference on educational communications, stressing the use of audiovisual aids in the classroom, are presented. Major topics of the 41 papers include: uses for student film-making, uses of instructional materials centers, a multimedia humanities course, uses of systems development, producing multimedia self-instructional study units, television production, classroom utilization of "Sesame Street," use of educational television, instructional materials coordinators, individualized instruction and the logistics of media materials, dial access, the instructional potential of media for teaching reading, use of the talking typewriter for autistic children and those with learning disabilities, and current developments in the use of instructional television fixed services. (JK)

One in a series of over 50 similar selected listings, the bibliography contains 47 items of research reports, conference papers, journal articles, texts, and program guides selected from "Exceptional Child Education Abstracts". Each entry on autism provides bibliographical data, availability information, indexing and retrieval descriptors, and abstracts of the documents. (RD)

In studies of preschool children, four clusters of symptoms seem most useful in characterizing those children who manifest autism: (1) failure to establish human relatedness and meaningful social attachments; (2) impairment of motivation to become competent; (3) disturbances of perceptual integration; and (4) impairment of the development of cognitive functions. One of the most important impairments of autistic children is perceptual inconstancy (irregularity in the processing of sensory data by the various receptor systems). The likelihood of physiological and biochemical changes under autistic conditions of sensory deprivation require that perceptual patterns be promoted in the child as early as possible. A program of treatment for the autistic child should include parent participation and parent education, with the goal of reducing distortions in the parent-child relationship. Otherwise, treatment of the preschool autistic child should be concerned with establishing perceptual organization and cortical control over his sensory experiences. Further research is needed on the relationship between parental attitudes or child rearing practices and the existence of an autistic child. (WD)

BY POINTING UP SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRAINS AND COMPUTERS, WE PRESENT CYBERNETIC CONCEPTS WHICH MAY PROVE RELEVANT TO THE MENTAL HEALTH WORKER IN HIS INVESTIGATION OF MENTAL PROCESSES. WE FOCUS ESPECIALLY ON THE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD, AND USE AS TENTATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS THE PROBLEM AND SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF INFANTILE AUTISM AND THE SO-CALLED "CHILDHOOD SCHIZOPHRENIAS." THIS PAPER WAS SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION TO THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY AND WAS PRESENTED AT THE 45TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ORTHOPSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION (CHICAGO, MARCH 1968). (AUTHOR)

This report summarizes four components of a research program. In the major investigation (Study 1), a method was developed for making bimodal presentations of discrepant auditory and visual stimuli under conditions which approximately early academic tasks. The goals were to determine (1) which stimulus modality exerts the greater influence on a young child's behavior, (2) whether modality choice is related to developmental level, and (3) what factors facilitate modality shifts. Study 2 was designed to answer some of the questions raised by the results of Study 1. Procedures were modified to allow evaluation of the influence of modality set and task difficulty and to control for stimulus novelty. In addition, the method was adapted for use with younger (3-year-old) children. In study 3, the responses of autistic children to the bimodal conflict task were evaluated. The transition from cardboard display boards and paper-and-pencil recording to the automated assessment console was begun in Study 4. (Author/CK)

Eleven papers, most of them with an experimental or empirical viewpoint, discuss childhood behavior disorders. R. Lapouse and M. Monk present an epidemiologic study of behavior characteristics; J. Roach and others describe sociopsychological characteristics of a child guidance clinic caseload; D. Peterson treats behavior problems of middle childhood; and H. Quay and others consider pupil personality patterns in special classes for the emotionally disturbed. The following topics are also explored: lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency, by W. Miller; recidivism, psychotherapy, and delinquency, by C. Franks; mothers as therapists for their children, by R. Wahler and others; reinforcement and behavioral deficits of autistic children, by C. Ferster; effects of Chlorpromazine on behavior and learning ability of hyperactive children, by J. Werry and others; curriculum and disordered behavior, by W. Rhodes; and a 30-year followup study on the adult psychiatric status of 150 subjects who had been childhood behavior problems, by P. O'Neal and L. Robins. (LE)

Findings are consistent with the hypothesis of an input processing deficit in autistic children. Autistic children were insensitive to differences in the structures present and tended to impose their own simple stereotyped patterns. Normal children imposed such patterns in the absence of structured input only. Paper reports work which has been submitted to the University of London as part of a Ph.D thesis. (Author/WY)

Based on papers presented at Convention of American Association on Mental Deficiency (1967) and Annual Convention of American Speech and Hearing Association (44th, Denver, Nov. 15-18, 1968.) (Author)

The paper tries to assign to autistic psychopathy a definite place in psychiatric nosology and to delineate sharply the differences between the essential characteristics of it and of early infantile autism. (Author)

Digest of papers of the Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting American Orthopsychiatry Association (San Francisco, California, March 23-26, 1970). (RD)

The author, who originated the term "early infantile autism" recalls his first involvement with a 5-year-old autistic child and the paper in which he described the syndrome. (DB)

INTENDED FOR SPEECH THERAPISTS, THEACHERS OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED, AND OTHERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION, THE COLLECTION CONTAINS REPORTS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS ON SPEECH AND LANGUAGE MODIFICATION ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE UTILIZED OPERANT CONDITIONING PROCEDURES, AS WELL AS SEVERAL PAPERS ON BACKGROUND TOPICS. BACKGROUND PAPERS ON TEACHING TREAT ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR, TOKEN REINFORCEMENT FOR RETARDED PUPILS, THE OBSERVATION AND RECORDING OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR IN REMEDIAL SPEECH WORK, AND THE BASIC BEHAVIORAL MECHANISM OF IMITATION. REPORTS ON INSTITUTING SPEECH IN SEVERELY IMPAIRED CHILDREN EXPLAIN REMEDIAL TEACHING PROCEDURES, A PROGRAM (INCLUDING READING) FOR NONVERBAL RETARDATES, AND A PROGRAM FOR PSYCHOTIC CHILDREN. ALSO INCLUDED ARE PAPERS ON ECHOLALIC CHILDREN AND AUTOMATISM, APHASIC CHILDREN GIVEN PROGRAMED INSTRUCTION, MUTE PSYCHOTICS TREATED BY REINFORCEMENT AND IMITATION, AND THE APPLICATION OF OPERANT CONDITIONING. REPORTS ON RESEARCH IN ARTICULATION DIFFICULTIES AND STUTTERING CONSIDER THE APPLICATION OF TEACHING MACHINE CONCEPTS, PROGRAMED LEARNING INSTRUCTION IN PHONICS, OPERANT PROCEDURES, AND MANIPULATION OF STUTTERING. ALSO DISCUSSED ARE ISSUES IN BEHAVIOR MANIPULATION AND RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS. THE RESEARCH REPORTS PROVIDE CHARTS, GRAPHS, OR ILLUSTRATIONS, AS WELL AS REFERENCE LISTS. THE BOOK IS INDEXED BY SUBJECT AND AUTHOR. THIS DOCUMENT WAS PUBLISHED BY THE HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. (JD)

A survey of children aged 8, 9, and 10 resident in the former County of Middlesex on 1 January 1964 showed that 4.5 per 10,000 had "autistic conditions of early childhood." This means that there are about twice as many autistic children in the country as there are blind children. There was a raised male-female ratio but no special birth order. Autistic children were more likely to have suffered from complications during oregnancy and delivery than their siblings, and one-half had marked delay in motor milestones. It was confirmed that the parents of autistic children (particularly those in the " nuclear group ") were likely to be above average in educational attain ment, occupational level, and intelligence. There was no evidence for a genetic or clinical relationship between early childhood autism and schizophrenia. Clinical and educational services still leave much to be desired. References

THE PURPOSE of this paper is to suggest the possibility that retrolental fibroplasia (RLF) and early infantile autism might both be caused by a rapid change in oxygen. Rimland1reviews many studies pertaining to the similarity in behavior between RLF and autistic children. The present paper will be restricted to presenting new evidence concerning the cause of RLF and the possibility of a rapid change in oxygen concentration being also a cause of autism. This writer believes that thesymptomsmanifested by autistic children may differ somewhat because of environmental variables interacting with the underlying brain damage. This hypothesis, however, will not be explored here. One of Rimland's major theories is that damage to the reticular formation might cause autism. However, he points out that hyperoxia, suggested as a possible cause of RLF, does not support his hypothesis of damage to

Establishing the nature of relationship between Linguistics and bio-sciences, especially Genetic Studies is nether an imagination today, nor an ambitious project at all, as psychologists, linguists and genetic scientists started to put there keen interest in this endeavour at the beginning of the twentieth-first century. The study of FOXP2-a potential human gene responsible for the degeneration of half of the members of famous KE family's speech and language performances, starts an epoch-making initiative in this regard. This paper provides a brief description of the research projects dedicated to explore POXP2 gene, including identifying speech and language behaviour of human beings with particular reference to this gene. Key Words: Grammar gene, language development, autism, SLI, Dyspraxia.DOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i3.4151 The Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics: Vol.2 No.3 February, 2009 Page: 173-184

This paper is concerned with the psychotherapeutic problem of resolving the autistic barrier maintained by the patient who negotiates his relationships to others primarily by means of the schizophrenic pattern of self-inhibition and withdrawal, a pattern which also precludes any ready establishment of effective emotional contact with the therapist. The case of an autistic child who maintained such a barrier in almost pure culture is presented. The tactical approaches used in the therapy of this child and his responses are described, and certain procedures which it is felt may have general validity in the psychotherapy of the schizophrenic personality are discussed. From the experience with this case and others it seems possible to draw the following conclusions: 1. The presence of the schizophrenic pattern is associated with an incapacity for spontaneous participation in relationship with another person, including the therapist. However, some capacity for receptive response to certain kinds of approach by...

IN 1943 KANNER,~ describing the clinical features of 11 cases, delineated a syndrome of childhood which he called ‘early infantile autism’. More recently EISENBERG and KANNER~ have summarized the early findings, enumerating 5 characteristic features of the syndrome : (a) the inability to relate to people ‘from the beginning of life’; (b) failure to use language in order to communicate; (c) an obsession for maintaining sameness; (d) preoccupation with objects; (e) evidence of ‘good cognitive potentialities’. In the same paper these authors go on to say: “in the light of experience with a ten-fold increase in clinical material, we would now isolate these two pathognomic features, both of which must be present: extreme self-isolation and the obsessive insistence on the preservation of sameness, features that may be regarded as primary. . . . ” The aims of the present study are (i) to describe and quantify the ‘free-field’ behaviour of such a group of children; (ii) to present an analysis of their electroencephalograms including some preliminary telemetry data; and (iii) to suggest a possible neurophysiological hypothesis to account for the two sets of findings. The patients studied were ten children, nine boys and one girl whose average age was 3 years 10 months. The criteria for their inclusion in the study were (i) that in each case the diagnosis of autism should have been made independently by at least two clinicians; and (ii) that none of the patients should have evidence of anatomical cerebral damage. The possibility of misclassification is an ever present hazard in all research employing nosological entities. Having decided, however, to accept the diagnosis of autism made by the two clinicians, it was strictly adhered to, despite any possible reservations on the part of the writers. In retrospect, it appears that all children manifested the first four of the diagnostic signs listed by EISENBERG and KANNER (idem) including the two ‘primary’ features. It is debatable whether all children showed evidence of ‘good cognitive potentialities’. This however is the most difficult feature to assess, since these children are largely

The needs of seriously handicapped brain-damaged and autistic children require that a teacher provide a highly structured lesson and environment, Many basic factors which contribute to a well structured lesson are frequently overlooked. Prepared for teachers at Benhaven, a day school in New Haven, Connecticut, this paper points out the elements which contribute to a well-organized lesson and the factors which might militate against a good lesson. Less handicapped children could benefit from a modification o f the same structuring procedures, adapted to their levels of disability and strengths.

At the turn of the century, both British and American writers were beginning to make a differential diagnosis between childhood psychosis and subnormality. Various conditions were denned, and numerous hypotheses put forward producing a confusion of terminology and aetiology. It was not until 1943 that Kanner's paper (1943) suggested the term ‘autism’ to be applied to a group of children whom he described as having the following three characteristics

While crippling autism may be present in a range of illnesses with psychological and organic etiology, this symptom occurs most frequently when a child has been forced, from infancy or an early age, to live and to grow in his own private world due to a severe perceptual or intellectual handicap. If this symptomatic autism is anticipated, diagnosed, and treated early, the child may develop in a relatively healthy and productive way. Without appropriate treatment the symptomatic autistic child is liable to be increasingly handicapped; eventually such a child is almost indistinguishable from children who are autistic due to other causes. This paper highlights some of the most common causes leading to symptomatic autism.

Twenty-one patients with condition varying from neurotic shyness through autism, to brain injury were described, categorized and placed on a spectrum of autism. Criteria for diagnosis have been developed with consequent increase in the accuracy of prognostication and a more effective approach to treatment. The outcome of our experience with these children over a 5½ year period is discussed. A format for uniform clinical examination and investigations has been suggested; alongside this we have described the usefulness of categorizing the morphology of phantasy. The natural history of “autism” as we see it has been graphically described. The paper contains clinical excerpts on some of our cases.

In recent years there has been an Increasing emphasis on the early diagnosis and treatment of the autistic child. This paper considers the principles upon which a service for pre‐school autistic children should be established and outlines the organizational requirements. Although autism is an uncommon and complex condition, it is argued that there are serious drawbacks to regional assessment centres for autistic children. A broad‐based appraisal, including developmental evaluation, behavioral assessment, medical investigation and environmental study, is required. This necessitates access to a wide range of skills, but there must be one person who has the responsibility of coordinating care. Assessment and treatment are inextricably linked, and both must be viewed from a developmental perspective with reevaluation as the children change with age. Treatment should be mainly focussed on aiding social and linguistic development and reducing the tendency to develop rigid stereotyped patterns. A home‐based appr...

This paper describes a nonspeech language training program for nonverbal autistic children. The two children who completed the program were able to respond differentially to a limited number of social transactions by placing the appropriate plywood word symbols to describe the events on a slant tray. Interexperimenter and intersetting generalization were demonstrated, as was retention of the trained responses.

An effort is made in this paper to present a psychoanalytically oriented but flexibly implemented approach to the evaluation of and treatment planning for autistic children and their families. Our etiological hypotheses are differentiated from those of both the purely psychogenic and the purely organic schools. The impossibility of separating evaluation and treatment is emphasized. Therapeutic techniques and implications will be mentioned secondarily, but a technical discussion of the treatment process will be deferred to later publication. In the evaluation and treatment of any psychiatric disorder, one's theoretical frame of reference influences one's assumptions, observations, and planning. In the case of infantile autism, although some authors continue to assume a single etiological agent,1,1athere is an increasing trend in the literature toward stressing multiple factors in the etiology of autism as well as in other syndromes.2This multifactorial approach leads

Early infantile autism and autistic psychopathy were first reported within the span of 1 year (1943–1944). While the former (Kanner's syndrome) has become the widely known focus of intensive investigation, the latter (Asperger's syndrome) did not receive the attention it deserves. Often the two conditions mistakenly have been thought to be identical. This paper tries (a) to assign to autistic psychopathy a definite place in psychiatric nosology and (b) to delineate sharply the differences between the essential characteristics of it and of early infantile autism. The author (who was the first European child psychiatrist to publish a case of early infantile autism) reports briefly a case of his own observation-the occurrence of Kanner's and Asperger's syndrome in one each of two members of the same family.

This paper will describe a new instrument designed to evaluate the status of autistic children and to measure changes in their behavior. The instrument consists of four core Scales, each of which delineates a category of behavior relevant to early autism. The Scales are graded in descriptive levels, ranging from the most severe autistic behavior to relatively normal behavior in a child approximately six years old. In addition, there are three supplemental Scales based on standard psychometric techniques, which are helpful in comparing autistic behavior with that of normal development. The instrument attempts to combine the complexity, richness, and sensitivity of a clinical evaluation with the objectivity of a behavioral rating scale. It has proven to be highly reliable when used by individuals with differing professional experience in a variety of clinical settings.

In the paper, the author discusses educational interactions focused on a child with autism. The first part of the study presents the characteristics of functioning of an autistic child, taking into account specific needs and difficulties. The research material was used to present the specificity of child’s functioning in certain developmental spheres: socio-emotional sphere, cognitive sphere, self-care, communication, sensory integration and motor integration. Bearing in mind a multi-profile diagnosis of the disorder and including various spheres of child’s functioning, the diagnosis was referenced to programming the process of support. The author concludes by presenting a reflection on dilemmas and challenges in education of autistic children.

Many detailed studies of special psycho-analytic situations will be necessary to point out the dynamics and the techniques of support and egobuilding as an integrated part of the psycho-analytic process and not separated from it. —Therese Benedek 1 This paper is an account of the first two years (450 sessions) of a long-term psychoanalysis of an obsessive-schizoid woman, two years during which a powerful affect block was partly reduced by analysis. The techniques used, their clinical indications, and the psychoanalytic encounter will be described. The three phases in the described treatment correlated with the psychoanalysis of the three major general defenses. The opening phase, prevailing during the first 30 hours, was establishing affective contact to combat defenses of aloofness, autism, and pseudocontact. In this phase the psychoanalyst needed to be explicitly experienced as a dependable, interested, accepting, understanding, professional person. The second phase was interpretation of living out the life

THE ATTITUDES and reactions of any professional toward a given patient are a complex result of a number of factors. An important one among these factors is the orientation toward a particular type of behavior or problem which is largely derived from the training and theoretical persuasion of the professional. In a previous paper1it was highlighted that there are two "camps" in child psychiatry with respect to the orientation toward seriously disturbed children (ie, childhood psychoses, autism, or childhood schizophrenia). The predominant camp holds to some variety of a functional-psychogenic etiology of these serious disturbances of early childhood. The second and smaller camp, which is more cognizant of the genetic-biologic-organic components as well as the functional, has seen some resurgence in its support in child psychiatry and related disciplines within the past five years. The present paper will examine the attitudes of