Autism continues to fascinate researchers because it is both debilitating in its effects and complex in its nature and origins. This text argues that autism is primarily a disorder of "executive functions", those involved in the control of action and thought.

Chapter 1. Introduction ; The Neurobiology of Autism ; Chapter 2. Integrating the neurobiological and neurophysical dimensions of autism ; Impairments in generating behaviour ; Chapter 3. Towards an executive dysfunction account of repetitive behaviour in autism ; Chapter 4. Pretend play in autism: Executive explanations ; The nature and the uniqueness of the executive deficits in autism ; Chapter 5. Validity tests of the executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism ; Chapter 6. Components of executive function in autism and other disorders ; Agency, self-awareness, and autism ; Chapter 7. Motor-images, self-consciousness, and autism ; Chapter 8. How executive disorders can bring about an inadequate "theory of mind"

Autism is a subject of major interest for developmental and clinical psychologists Contributors have produced exciting results in the field Presents new and compelling arguments for an alternative theory

Autism is a subject of major interest for developmental and clinical psychologists Contributors have produced exciting results in the field Presents new and compelling arguments for an alternative theory