Levels of autistic behaviour among the mentally handicapped children in Zimbabwe.

The manifestation of autistic behaviours in relation to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1987) Revised Criteria for Autism was investigated among 18 mentally handicapped children. The Autistic Behaviour Checklist and the Behaviour Rating Instrument for Autistic (and other Atypical) Children were used to collect data. All the three major categories of the DSM III-R were observed in varying frequencies in the subjects. In addition other behaviours not described in the DSM III-R such as disturbances in perception and labile mood were also observed. Generally the DSM III-R categories are supported by empirical evidence as found in this and other studies. Consideration should be given to the inclusion of characteristics such as abnormal responses to sensory stimuli and disturbances in developmental rate in Category C of DSM III-R to make it more flexible to cater for non classical autism.