This current issues piece will explore how autobiographies written by people with autism can help identify sensory processing differences that might be viewed as possible attributes in an enabling society, but for which ableist perceptions are often negative. In concrete terms, these constructions may be preventing people from entering employment…

We argue for the utility of a functional definition of stereotypy based on evidence of both sensory automatic and socially mediated reinforcement contingencies in the occurrence of stereotypy in children with autism. A predetermined sensory function of stereotypy is often invoked in the behavioral literature and the term "self-stimulatory…

The author extends the self stimulatory theory of self destructive behavior in autistic, schizophrenic, and mentally retarded individuals to suggest that damage of the skin's nerve structure lowers the tactile sensory threshold for physical input and enables individuals to obtain sensory stimulation by repeatedly depressing the damaged area. (CL)

An individual with autism addresses the need for more research on sensory problems in autism. Difficulties that autistic individuals have with sensory processing, attention shifting, and sensory mixing between modalities are noted. Preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of sensory integration therapy is noted. (DB)

A detailed hypothesis of the acquisition and maintenance of self-stimulatory behavior is offered, proposing that such behaviors are operant responses whose reinforcers are automatically produced perceptual consequences. Related concepts are discussed, and support for the hypothesis from the areas of sensory reinforcement and sensory deprivation is…

At least since the early 1990s, educators in inclusive schooling as well as scholars in Disability Studies have critiqued prevailing notions of intellectual ability and have suggested the importance of interpretive communities for constructing student competence (Biklen, 1990; Goode, 1992, 1994; Kliewer, 1998; Kluth, 2003; Linneman, 2001). This…