Abstract

Children of school age with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and mental retardation were investigated by use of standard Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) as well as neuropsychological research by A. Luria. The unexpected result was a presence of a certain level of autism in children who are officially diagnosed as mental retardation, which allows to support that autistic symptoms can occur in children with various mental disorders. Using discriminant analysis of the experimental results obtained by A. Luria and CARS methods, we identified the most important indeces for diagnosing ASD in children. For adequate differentiation of ASD it is necessary high values of such indexes as criticality, overall impression, emotional reaction, adaptation to changes in activity level, relationships with people, nonverbal communication, verbal communication and low values of such indexes as test for objective gnosis, proof test, adequacy, using objects, imitation, intellectual development and timidity. Keywords: autistic spectrum disorder, mental retardation, children, diagnostics.