Attwood A, Frith U, Hermelin B
Intellectual Handicap Services, Brisbane, Queensland.
J Autism Dev Disord. 1988 Jun;18(2):241-57. doi: 10.1007/BF02211950.
Autistic adolescents with mild, moderate, and severe degrees of mental retardation, Down's syndrome adolescents, and clinically normal 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children were compared in their ability to understand a set of simple instrumental gestures. Almost all gestures were perfectly understood, that is, correctly responded to, by normal children from age 5 onwards, and by all the handicapped groups, regardless of diagnosis or degree of retardation. However, the ability to initiate such gestures on verbal request was generally less good, especially in the less able autistic groups. The same subjects were unobtrusively observed in the playground and during mealtime at their schools. Peer interactions were least frequent in the autistic subjects, regardless of degree of mental retardation. However, relative to interaction frequency, the autistic group used nonverbal instrumental gestures as a means of communication to the same extent as the other groups. Unlike Down's syndrome adolescents, or normal preschool children, no autistic adolescent ever used expressive gestures.
对患有轻度、中度和重度智力障碍的自闭症青少年、唐氏综合征青少年以及临床正常的4岁、5岁和6岁儿童理解一组简单工具性手势的能力进行了比较。几乎所有手势从5岁起就能被正常儿童以及所有残疾群体完全理解，即做出正确反应，无论诊断结果或智力障碍程度如何。然而，根据言语要求做出此类手势的能力通常较差，尤其是在能力较弱的自闭症群体中。在操场和学校用餐时间对相同的受试者进行了不引人注意的观察。无论智力障碍程度如何，自闭症受试者的同伴互动最少。然而，相对于互动频率，自闭症群体使用非语言工具性手势作为交流手段的程度与其他群体相同。与唐氏综合征青少年或正常学龄前儿童不同，没有一个自闭症青少年使用过表达性手势。
