Beate Hermelin

<p>In 1963, Hermelin and O’Connor from the MRC Unit used Creak’s 9 points to bring together a group of research subjects in whom they could test ‘sensory dominance’. The closure of mental deficiency institutions had generated a large supply of ‘subnormal’ children who were used as controls in these experimental situations. Whereas intelligence tests were by then well established as psychometric instruments, measures of psychopathology in children were new. Hermelin and O’Connor worked with staff at Botley’s Park Hospital for the mentally handicapped in Chertsey and St Lawrence’s Hospital in Cornwall to select ‘autistic’ children based on Creak’s list and ‘subnormal' children identified through intelligence tests. Both groups were matched for IQ levels (mean 40) so that the only difference between them was that the group deemed ‘autistic’ was ‘severely disturbed’. The children were rewarded if they gave correct responses to tactile, auditory and visual stimulation. ‘Autistic’ children were found more likely to respond to tactile and visual stimulation than auditory stimulation although they could be taught to respond to sound if they were rewarded (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757918/#bibr38-0952695113484320" rid="bibr38-0952695113484320" class=" bibr popnode" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" >Hermelin and O’Connor, 1963</a>).</p>

<p>

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757918/</p>