The ecological assessment of an autistic child.
The behavior of an autistic child was observed in his natural environment. Observations were made in three settings, over approximately 6 months. Sixteen behaviors of the child and six behaviors of adults and peers were recorded. A cluster analysis was performed to identify response classes within the behavioral structure of the child and to see if correlations existed between response  and stimulus events. To examine intra- and intersetting changes, Spearman rank correlations and t tests were also computed. The autistic child exhibited a diversity of behavior over time in a given setting and across settings. He persistently ignored other nonautistic children, although he was responsive to adults. Response classes reflected an inverse correlation between the child's self-stimulatory behaviors and his attentiveness to the environment. Elevated levels of adult attention were consistently related to reduced levels in most self-stimulatory behaviors. Two response classes showed inverse relationships between self-stimulatory behaviors. Reducing the frequency of some self-stimulatory behaviors might cause increases in others.
D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001519:Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D012653:Self Stimulation; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012934:Social Isolation; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior