In this review of the research literature on autism, we argue that the application of developmental and neuropsychological perspectives has contributed importantly to the understanding of the core deficits in autism and their underlying neural bases. The three classes of theories postulated to explain the developmental and neuropsychological deficits in autism are considered in terms of the specificity, uniqueness, and universality of these impairments in autism. Because we believe that a primary reason for our lack of understanding of the developmental trajectory in autism stems from our inability to diagnose the syndrome in the first three years of life, research approaches to early identification are discussed, as are longitudinal studies aimed at identifying later-life outcomes and their predictors. In contrast to the progress made in defining the core deficits and arriving at criteria for diagnosis, less progress has been made in identifying the causes of autism and in creating and testing interventions aimed at ameliorating the impairments of autism, possibly because these activities have been less tied to the developmental and neuropsychological models that have enlightened the investigation of core deficits.

中文翻译：

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从发展和神经心理学的角度来看自闭症。

在对自闭症研究文献的回顾中，我们认为发展和神经心理学观点的应用为自闭症的核心缺陷及其潜在的神经基础的理解做出了重要贡献。从自闭症这些障碍的特异性，独特性和普遍性的角度考虑了为解释自闭症的发展和神经心理学缺陷而假定的三类理论。因为我们认为，对自闭症的发展轨迹缺乏了解的主要原因是由于我们在生命的前三年无法诊断该综合征，所以讨论了早期识别的研究方法，以及旨在以后识别的纵向研究。生活结果及其预测因素。