Autism

Uta Frith aims to provide a picture of how autistic individuals think and behave. The main research findings on this seriously handicapping developmental disorder are outlined. The answer she proposes, on the basis of a convincing set of experiments, is that autistic individuals lack the ability to draw together information, from what they see and hear, to derive coherent and meaningful ideas. In particular, it is suggested that they lack a "theory of mind". Ordinarily, children and adults are quite adept at using a range of cues to infer what other people are likely to be thinking and feeling; autistic people seem to lack that ability. Autism is a topic of myth and pain, conflict and fantasy. It is a topic of interest to a range of professionals as well as to the families of affected children. This book presents a psychological account of what happens in the autistic mind. The key problem is an inability to integrate pieces of information into coherent wholes, an inability to make sense particularly of the mind's own activities, thoughts, beliefs and feelings.
From this beginning, the language, social and emotional problems all follow as the complex intereactions of human development unfold.