Autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children were observed individually during 20-min. play periods in which they were allowed complete freedom in the selection and use of toys. The observation period was divided into 60 segments and observers recorded which of a number of defined categories of toy uses occurred during each segment. This technique also provided a measure of the number of distinctly different acts comprising S's toy play repertoire. Both normal and retarded Ss exceeded the autistic Ss, and the normals surpassed the retardates in the proportion of over-all play devoted to combinational uses of toys. The play of the autistic group included higher proportions of both oral and repetitive uses of toys than that of the other groups. The toy play repertoires of the autistic Ss contained fewer distinctly different acts than the repertoires of either the normals or retardates.

A comparison of the toy play behavior and use of body of 30 autistic and 30 normal children between the ages of 2 and 7 was made by use of a maternal questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to yield a descriptive profile of age-appropriate play behavior and ritualistic behavior generally found to be characteristic of the autistic child. Exact probability tests on each of the 47 items of the questionnaire indicated significant differences ( p < .05) between groups, the normal Ss demonstrating more age-appropriate play behavior and the autistic more ritualistic behavior. Validity of the questionnaire was examined by comparing items from the questionnaire to similarly defined items in a structured observation study of autistic, normal, and retarded children. 14 autistic Ss were available for both studies. Consistency in toy-play behavior of autistic children was indicated as measured by the two techniques. Differences in toy-play behavior of normal and autistic samples were definitely indicated; a questionnaire technique gave high agreement with observation, providing a useful and efficient method for measuring toy-play behavior; further refinement of the questionnaire seems appropriate.