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Background and aims: Fascinations for or aversions to particular sounds are a familiar feature of autism, as is an ability to reproduce another person's utterances, precisely copying the other person's prosody as well as their words. Such observations seem to indicate not only that autistic people can pay close attention to what they hear, but also that they have the ability to perceive the finer details of auditory stimuli. This is consistent with the previously reported consensus that absolute pitch is more common in autistic individuals than in neurotypicals. We take this to suggest that autistic people have perception that allows them to pay attention to fine details. It is important to establish whether or not this is so as autism is often presented as a deficit rather than a difference. We therefore undertook a narrative literature review of studies of auditory perception, in autistic and nonautistic individuals, focussing on any differences in processing linguistic and nonlinguistic sounds. Main contributions: We find persuasive evidence that nonlinguistic auditory perception in autistic children differs from that of nonautistic children. This is supported by the additional finding of a higher prevalence of absolute pitch and enhanced pitch discriminating abilities in autistic children compared to neurotypical children. Such abilities appear to stem from atypical perception, which is biased toward local-level information necessary for processing pitch and other prosodic features. Enhanced pitch discriminating abilities tend to be found in autistic individuals with a history of language delay, suggesting possible reciprocity. Research on various aspects of language development in autism also supports the hypothesis that atypical pitch perception may be accountable for observed differences in language development in autism. Conclusions: The results of our review of previously published studies are consistent with the hypothesis that auditory perception, and particularly pitch perception, in autism are different from the norm but not always impaired. Detail-oriented pitch perception may be an advantage given the right environment. We speculate that unusually heightened sensitivity to pitch differences may be at the cost of the normal development of the perception of the sounds that contribute most to early language development. Implications: The acquisition of speech and language may be a process that normally involves an enhanced perception of speech sounds at the expense of the processing of nonlinguistic sounds, but autistic children may not give speech sounds this same priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SEPTIMUS is a one-year Europe-wide postgraduate theoretical course for psychotherapists and counsellors provided entirely via the Internet. It may be used as part of a training course, with face-to-face elements provided locally, or for continuing professional development. The course was developed at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with psychotherapy training institute partners in seven other European countries. Two studies involving 167 SEPTIMUS students and 60 comparable face-to-face students were undertaken: (1) "Study 1." Drop-out rates for the SEPTIMUS programme were found to be low, and comparison between those dropping out and those completing did not highlight any significant factors linked to distance learning. However, students cited "finance", "distance from training centre, lack of practical experience, family commitments" and the "intensity of their working weeks" as having been barriers to taking face-to-face learning courses in the past; and (2) "Study 2." SEPTIMUS students (e-learners) were compared with students taking comparable attending (face-to-face) theoretical courses also being provided by partners in the project to psychotherapy trainees. Significant differences were found in "distance from training institute" and "ability to visit training institute." SEPTIMUS students had higher levels of "computer ownership, frequency of Internet use" and "IT skills" than attenders; these factors when examined in Study 1 did not have an impact on the drop-out rate of e-learners. e-Learning can overcome barriers to traditional learning in psychotherapy, particularly distance from a training centre, without loss of student satisfaction or student performance. Factors sometimes thought to be obstacles to e-learning, such as information technology skills, were not found to be significant barriers--although they may have affected recruitment. Certain aspects of e-learning, such as the tendency to facilitate self-disclosure, were found to be very beneficial, particularly in the context of psychotherapy programmes. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Discussion of psychological disorder in adolescents and adults with Asperger syndrome suggests that these individuals commonly develop a psychological disorder secondary to Asperger syndrome including affective disorders, anxiety-related disorders, and conduct disorders. Treatment usually involves a combination of psychoeducation, social change, psychotropic medication, and counseling. (Contains references.) (DB)

Two experiments evaluated the social interactions of 15 Asperger-type autistic subjects with either normal or schizoid control subjects. Asperger subjects tended to avoid gazing at the interviewer when the interviewer was talking. Results suggest that a lifelong absence of gaze response to social clues including speech may explain some features of autism. (Author/DB)

Measurement of the processing of facial and nonfacial stimuli in children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome showed that high ability autistic children performed worse than nonautistic controls across all processing tasks, thus pointing to a general, perceptual dysfunction in all high ability autistic children. Impaired face perception was not due to emotion-specific or face-specific disorders. Low ability groups did not vary much from the controls in their test performances. The experiments revealed a high correlation between autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

Abstract Background Little is known about the health and social profile of adolescents and adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) living in the community. We conducted a study to describe the living, employment and psycho-social situation of a community sample of forty two adults and adolescents with AS, and to describe these indivdiuals' experiences of accessing health services and taking medication. Findings Most respondents (including those over eighteen years of age) lived at home with their parents. Most had trouble reading and responding to other people's feelings, and coping with unexpected changes. Difficulties with life skills, such as cleaning, washing and hygiene were prevalent. The majority of respondents were socially isolated and a large minority had been sexually or financially exploited. Almost all respondents had been bullied. Mental health problems such as anxiety or depression were common. 30% of respondents said that they regularly became violent and hit other people and 15% had attempted suicide. More positively, the majority of respondents felt that they could access health services if they had a health problem. Conclusions The results of this study suggest a relatively poor social and health profile for many people with Asperger syndrome living in the community, with high levels of social problems and social exclusion, and difficulties managing day to day tasks such as washing and cleaning; these findings support the results of other studies that have examined psycho-social functioning in this group.