ABSTRACT
The most influential models of autism have been derived from the 'Theory of Mind' approach. A striking feature of some self-reports and adult recollections of highly functioning children with autism are the extreme affective responses provoked by certain commonplace artefacts. Whilst some everyday objects appear to be a source of deep fascination, others give rise to unusual fears. Such evidence indicates that children with autism may experience some difficulty entering into the conventional uses of objects. Each child with autism was matched to one child with Down syndrome and one typically developing child. Parents of children with autism predominantly reported using physical methods of instruction and needing to successively repeat verbal prompts and demonstrations, as well as emphasising the importance of structured intervention by the school. All parents who had children with autism mentioned a problem relating to the object itself compared to only four parents of children with Down syndrome and one parent of a typically developing child.
