title: The social-avoidance behaviour of autistic children.
abstract: Direct observation and previous studies suggest autistic children actively avoid social encounters more than normal children, and concommitantly, act as if threatened by the mere proximity or non-threatening approaches of others. A study is reported which supports this. The 'cognitive-language handicap' theory of autism is criticized in the light of these results.
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D001321:Autistic Disorder; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior