Last modified: 2014-04-03
Abstract
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication and narrow interests and repetitive behavior. A recent cognitive model suggests the empathizing-systemizing theory that explains the social and communication difficulties by reference to delays and deficits in empathy, whilst explaining the areas of strength by reference to intact or even superior skill in systemizing. The intuitive physics test is an instrument developed to assess systemizing. The aim of this study is to analyze the evidences of validity of this test in Brazilian children and to measure the performance of high functioning autists in this test and the Battery of Reasoning Tests. Among the 330 schoolchildren there was observed statistically significant difference between the scores of the two genders, with superior performance in boys, as well as an increment in scores in accordance with age and grade in school. The best performance occurred in the children of private school. Between the clinical group (composed of 28 high functioning autism individuals) and the control group (composed of 28 from private schoolchildren), the latter showed the best performance in the intuitive physics test as well as in the mechanical reasoning test. The psychometric properties of the test showed a low consistency index. The performance among school participants changed according to the development, which may reflect not only cognitive development but also their everyday experience and school education. Otherwise, the clinical group didn´t have better performance in the intuitive physics test when compared with the control group.
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References
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