Measuring musical abilities of autistic children.

Three normal children with reported musical ability and three autistic children were tested for the ability to imitate individual tones and series of tones delivered by voice, piano, and synthesizer. Accuracy of imitation was judged by two independent observers on the basis of pitch, rhythm, and duration. The autistic children overall performed as well as or better than the age-matched normal children. These results are discussed and their implications for future neurological and clinical research are considered.