Patterns of intellectual functioning in non-retarded autistic and schizophrenic children

The WISC-R factor scores of non-retarded children meeting DSM III criteria for autism and schizophrenia were compared. The scores of the schizophrenic children on factor 3 were significantly lower than those of the autistic children, below the range of normal children, and significantly lower than the scores they obtained on the verbal comprehension and perceptual organization factors. The autistic children scored in the superior range on the block design subtest and did not show gross impairments in language function as indexed by scores on the verbal comprehension factor. The only subtest autistic children were impaired on was the comprehension subtest.