ABSTRACT
The theme of developmental perspectives in the study of autism is an example of the relatively new focus on the mutually informative relationship between the sciences of typical development and psychopathology (Cicchetti, 1984; Cicchetti & Cohen, 1995; Luthar, Burack, Cicchetti, & Weisz, 1997). This emergent area of study, generally referred to as developmental psychopathology, is at the crossroads between two distinct disciplines that involve disparate world views and empirical approaches (Burack, 1997). The traditional study of development involves both complex theorizing about and precise charting of continual changes of mechanisms and processes within elaborate, but universal, systems. In contrast, the study of psychopathology typically involves the precise examination of specific areas of functioning that uniquely differentiate one atypical group from other atypical groups as well as from the typical population. The differences in theoretical premises and constructs, empirical questions, and methodologies between these disparate frameworks contribute to the richness and innovativeness at the meeting point, but also necessitate that the two original disciplines must be transformed by their fledgling descendant.
