A group of 13 children with autism (mean CA = 13:4 and non-verbal MA = 8 3 ) were tested on a wide range of drawing tasks. Their performance was compared with 13 normal children (mean CA = 13:4 and mean non-verbal MA = 14:3), 13 younger normal children (mean CA = 6:lO and mean non-verbal MA = 8: 5) and 13 Down's syndrome (DS) children (mean CA = 16:l and mean non-verbal MA = 7:9). The children with autism did not perform any higher than their mental age controls on any individual cask; overall, their visual realism scores were significantly lower than those of their chronological and mental age controls, although slightly higher than those of the DS children. It appears that non-gifted children with autism do not possess any special aptitude for drawing. * Requests for reprints. 1. Cups (adapted from Davis, 1983): (a) single cup, (b) paired cups. 2. Multiculoured cube (Moore, 1986): (a) correct number of faces seen, (b) colour them appropriately. 3. Two cubes (Cox & Bnga, 1985): (a) one cube one beside the other, (b) one on top of the other, (c) 4. Two cubes (Brcmner, 1985): one behind another. 5. T h e cubes (Bremner. 1985): one cube behind another and a third to the side of the front cube. 6. Two &a& (Cox, 1981): putidly occluded. 7. Cube (Cox, 1989): (a) correct number of visible faces, (b) apparent convergence of the edges of the 8. Wedge (Cox, 1989): (a) correct number of visible faces, (b) convergence of the edges of the top face. one behind the other. top face.

A total of 125 male and 145 female students completed a written questionnaire (response rate 68%) on their consumption levels and patterns, problem drinking and vandalism and assaults associated with drinking, Prevalence of heavy drinking was broadly similar to that found in other college student samples in the UK with 25.6% of male students and 14.5% of female students drinking more than their safe limits of 35 and 21 units per week respectively. Six percent of male and one percent of female students exceeded the problem drinking threshold on the MAST. Twenty percent of the male students and 6% of the females admitted having caused at least some damage to property after having been drinking in the past 12 months. Four percent of males and 5% of females admitted 'minor' assaults. Fifty percent of males and 36% of females had witnessed damage to property and 19% of males and 10% of females had experienced some kind of assault. Vandalism and assaults were positively and independently associated with higher levels of consumption, reasons for drinking and patterns of drinking; in particular morning drinking appeared to play a role. Taking amount of drinking into account, males were more likely to commit acts of vandalism but females were more likely to commit assaults. The results reveal that alcohol-related, anti-social behaviour among students is a significant problem and that, while heavy drinking per se plays a role, other factors are also important.

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