Abstract

In this review we discuss recent studies on the relation between metarepresentational deficits and communication impairments in persons with autism. We argue that the metarepresentational theory of autism successfully identifies a cognitive domain that is selectively impaired in most persons with autism and provides a powerful explanation for difficulties in inferential communication, socialization and belief-desire reasoning skills. By contrast, abnormal patterns of interests and attentional control suggest that a separate non-domain specific deficit may be also a core psychological feature of the autistic disorder. Finally, we discuss studies on teaching belief-desire reasoning skills to children with autism and their implications for future work on rehabilitation and intervention.