Patterns of symbolic expression in subgroups of the childhood psychoses

Differential patterns of symbolic expression, through the modalities of language, gesture, play, and drawing, were investigated in 48 psychotic children: 26 with chart diagnoses of autism and 22 with chart diagnoses of schizophrenia. As predicted, autistic children tended to show an absence of symbol use, while schizophrenic children demonstrated complex or differentiated symbol use. A multiple discriminant analysis supported the hypothesized emergence of a "transitional" group of children, defined on the basis of echolalic language, who showed stereotypic or undifferentiated symbol use.