Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, VoL 24, No. 4, 1994 Comprehension of Pretense in Children with Autism Chris Jarrold, 2 Peter Smith, and Jill Boucher University of Sheffield Paul Harris University of Oxford In an attempt to tap underlying competencies, the ability of children with autism to comprehend pretend acts carried out by an experimenter was com- pared with that shown by controls. These acts consisted of the pouring of a pretend substance from an appropriate container onto a target figure. There was no significant difference in the groups' ability to identify the pretend sub- stance involved, to predict the pretend outcome of the actions, or to reflect on the pretend nature of the episodes. However, the performance of controls on these latter two tasks was surprisingly poor, limiting the implications that might be drawn from the observed absence of group differences in comprehension abilities. INTRODUCTION It is commonly accepted that children with autism are impaired in their production of spontaneous pretend play. 3 Not only do they produce ZWe are very grateful to the teachers and headteachers of the following schools for their cooperation and assistance throughout the period of this research: John Worrall School, Sheffield; Doucecroft School, Kelvedon; East Hill First and Middle School, Sheffield; East Hill Second School, Sheffield; Mossbrook School, Sheffield; Priory School, Doncaster; The Rowan School, Dore; St. Mary's School, Sheffield. We also thank James Russell for his helpful comments of earlier drafts of this paper. 2Address all correspondence to Chris Jarrold, who is now at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Universityof Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB23EB, United Kingdom. 3Tl]roughoot this paper the term "pretend play" is preferred to "symbolic play." While many 433 0162-3257/94/0800~33507.00/00 1994 Plenum Publishing Corporation