Sensory impairments are widely reported in autism, but remain largely unexplained by existing models. This article examines Kanner's causal reasoning and identifies unsupported assumptions implicit in later empirical work. Our analysis supports a heterogeneous causal model for autistic characteristics. We propose that the development of a standardised framework for analysing autistic characteristics would facilitate the identification of sub-groups and the location of biological markers for genetic variation. We also support a neuroconstructivist model proposing that peripheral sensory abnormalities disrupt compilation of complex skills; impact on synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning and myelination; and subsequently manifest themselves as autistic behaviours. This model explains some of the structural and functional brain abnormalities and many of the perceptual, cognitive and attentional features found in autism.

Picture sorts were used to investigate perceptions of women's office clothes, with a sample of ten male and ten female subjects who normally worked in an office environment. The pictures on the cards were taken from catalogues, and showed women's outfits which might be worn in an office. The subjects sorted the cards repeatedly and generated criteria and categories of their own choice. Some of the criteria and categories had not been previously reported in the clothing research literature. Over half of the male subjects, but none of the female subjects, used 'married=unmarried woman' as a sorting criterion, although only one of the images sorted showed a wedding ring. A significantly higher proportion of male than of female subjects used dichotomous categorization (i.e. sorting the cards into two piles for one or more of the criteria). The reasons for this are obscure, but do not appear to be a simple outcome of males not knowing much about female clothing. Previous research into clothing has tended to involve researcher-centred approaches such as semiotics; the results from this study suggest that there would be advantages in wider use of subject-centred approaches such as card sorts, both in this domain and elsewhere. It was concluded that card sorts were a useful method and should be more widely used.

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