The autistic child's presumed preference for proximal rather than distal sensory input was studied by requiring that autistic, retarded, and normal subjects adapt to a prism-induced lateral displacement of the visual field. Only autistic subjects demonstrated transfer of adaptation to the nonadapted hand, indicative of a reliance on proprioception rather than vision to accomplish adaptation. Such reliance on proprioception was explained as an alternative strategy compensating for an inability to use current visual control of reaching rather than as a preference for proximal information per se.

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Interactive modeling is frequently used in teaching skills to children with developmental delay. This study compared the performance of 12 children (7 males, 5 females; 4–10 years of age) each trained in two tasks, one through interactive modeling (with or without verbal reinforcement) and the other through passive observation. Results showed that passive modeling produced better rated performance than interactive modeling and that verbal reinforcement was counterproductive. These findings suggest that current instructional strategies may need to be reconsidered for children with developmental delay.

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