TASK-DIFFICULTY AND TASK-PERFORMANCE IN AUTISTIC-CHILDREN

The study was designed to examine the effects on the performance of autistic children of varying the cognitive demands being made upon the children. The Board Form of the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices was administered to 30 children and then, if necessary, either a range of easier, “matrices‐type” problems, or the more difficult Standard Progressive Matrices. Distribution and type of errors suggested that for most of the children tested, success or failure on any item was best predicted by the intrinsic difficulty of that item rather than by the child's lack of co‐operation. However, it did appear that for some of the lower functioning children, early experience of failure did interfere with subsequent performance. The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of the clinical assessment of autistic children. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved