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Second thoughts on the nature of autism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Peter Mundy  and
Marian Sigman
Peter Mundy*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences
Marian Sigman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences
*
Reprint requests may be sent to: Peter Mundy, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
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Abstract

This article presents our response to the comments of Baron-Cohen, Harris, Hobson, and Leslie and Happé. We suggest that a singular cognitive hypothesis does not provide a parsimonious explanation of autism. We argue that certain aspects of autism, including observations of joint-attention deficits and observations of deficits in the prosodic elements of speech, may best be explained in terms of both cognitive and affective factors. We also acknowledge the validity of the criticism of our contingency processing deficit hypothesis (Mundy & Sigman, 1989a). In response to this criticism, we offer a modification of our model of joint-attention skill deficits in autistic children.

Type
Authors' Response
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 213 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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