Response latencies to auditory stimuli in autistic children engaged in self-stimulatory behavior

We studied three groups of children (mute autistics, autistics with echolalic speech, and normals) under two conditions (while the children were engaged in self-stimulation vs. free from self-stimulatory behavior). The children were trained to approach a dispenser, for candy reinforcement, at the sound of a tone. The time interval between the onset of the tone and Ss approach was labelled his response latency. We found that (1) the presence of self-stimulatory behavior was associated with increased response latencies for the mute autistics; (2) the response latencies of the latter group decreased as Ss received increased training in responding to the auditory stimulus; (3) the amount of self-stimulatory behavior varied with the magnitude of reinforcement for other behavior; (4) in a preliminary way, we obtained some control over the response latencies by experimentally manipulating the amount of self-stimulatory behavior. The data were conceptualized in terms of competing reinforcers.