Hauck M, Fein D, Waterhouse L, Feinstein C
Louisiana State University Medical Center, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 1995 Dec;25(6):579-95. doi: 10.1007/BF02178189.
Social initiations made by autistic and verbal-matched retarded children were recorded in two naturalistic situations. Frequencies of initiation to adults did not differ between groups, but the retarded children initiated much more frequently to peers. Most interactions for both groups were positive, but the autistic children engaged in more ritualized, and the retarded children more playful, initiations. The autistic children monitored the social environment more when forced into proximity with peers, whereas the retarded children initiated more in the unstructured situation. Autistic initiation to peers was unrelated to severity of autism, but was related to cognitive skills, including vocabulary and comprehension of affect, whereas retarded children's initiations were unrelated to cognitive level. Results are discussed in terms of the differences between adults and children as social stimuli, prerequisite skills for initiation to peers, and the relationship between social cognition and social behavior. It is suggested that autistic and retarded children differ in the quantity of their initiations to peers, and the quality of their initiations to adults, and that initiations to peers may be a particularly useful index of social development in autistic children. Results confirm the need of autistic children for highly structured social environments, and suggest an important role for the remediation of specific cognitive skills such as comprehension of others' affects.
在两种自然情境下记录了自闭症儿童和语言匹配的智障儿童发起的社交行为。两组儿童对成人发起社交行为的频率没有差异，但智障儿童对同伴发起社交行为的频率要高得多。两组儿童的大多数互动都是积极的，但自闭症儿童的发起行为更具仪式性，而智障儿童的发起行为更具嬉戏性。当被迫与同伴接近时，自闭症儿童对社交环境的监测更多，而智障儿童在非结构化情境中发起社交行为更多。自闭症儿童对同伴发起社交行为与自闭症的严重程度无关，但与包括词汇和情感理解在内的认知技能有关，而智障儿童的发起行为与认知水平无关。从成人和儿童作为社交刺激的差异、对同伴发起社交行为的必备技能以及社会认知与社会行为之间的关系等方面对结果进行了讨论。研究表明，自闭症儿童和智障儿童在对同伴发起社交行为的数量以及对成人发起社交行为的质量上存在差异，并且对同伴发起社交行为可能是自闭症儿童社会发展的一个特别有用的指标。结果证实了自闭症儿童对高度结构化社交环境的需求，并表明对特定认知技能（如对他人情感的理解）进行补救具有重要作用。
