Compliance, 'negativism', and the effects of treatment structure in autism: a naturalistic, behavioral study.

Nineteen autistic individuals were observed in their familiar residential environment using a time-sample technique. Rates of stereotyped and self-injurious behaviors, the direction of the subject's gaze (at staff, task or elsewhere) and the number of requests made to a subject by staff were a function of treatment structure, as defined by the staff: child ratio. While patterns of compliance in response to different types of requests were observed, subjects were generally compliant. The data do not support the notion that autistic children are unusually 'negativistic'. The utility of ecologically valid observations and the need for normative data are discussed.