High functioning individuals with autism: Diagnosis, empirical findings, and theoretical issues

Autism is characterized by social, cognitive, and linguistic impairments. Whereas most autistic individuals are also mentally retarded, only 5-30% are high functioning and thus score in the average range on standardized intelligence tests. This paper reviews the available literature in psychology on high functioning individuals with autism. It addresses diagnosis, experimental designs, follow-up studies, and empirical findings with samples of high functioning individuals with autism. Finally, the contribution of studying high functioning individuals with autism to our conceptualization of autism as involving both cognitive and affective impairments is discussed; a general model of an impairment in the ability to form representations is suggested.