ABSTRACT
Autism is a biologically based disorder with a behavioral definition, spanning a wide range of manifestations and showing characteristic impairments in social communication [1]. While the majority of patients suffer from intellectual retardation and often have little or no useful language, explorations of the cognitive impairments in autism have focused on high-functioning individuals, in whom general intellectual and linguistic impairment is not a contributory factor [2]. High-functioning individuals, often labeled as having Asperger syndrome, appear to suffer from the relatively subtle developmental consequences of a cognitive deficit in ‘theory of mind’, a deficit that accounts well for the more conspicuous social impairments of children with severe forms of autism.
