研究目的與研究方法：本研究主要的目的有二，第一是以學齡前兒童行為發展量表(Chinese Child Development Inventory, CCDI)，比較80名生理年齡在三歲以下，心理年齡相配對的自閉症類與發展遲緩幼童發展能力的表現型態，並進一步找出區辨這兩組幼童的特定發展能力指標。第二是探討自閉症幼童的發展能力與自閉症症狀的關係。研究結果：結果顯示，(1)自閉症類幼童在CCDI中表現比較弱的能力為溝通表達、人際社會與概念理解，發展遲緩幼童表現比較弱的能力則為溝通表達與概念理解。兩組幼童的發展能力表現型態並不相同，人際社會與精細動作能力，是鑑別兩組幼童比較有力的區辨指標。(2)只有自閉症類幼童發展能力與自閉症症狀嚴重度出現顯著負相關。研究結論：本研究結果可提供自閉症類幼童的早期診斷與早期療育的思考方向。

Purpose and Methods: The first purpose of this study was to use Chinese Child Development Inventory (CCDI) for comparing developmental profiles between young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and with developmental delay (DD), who were under three years of age. This study could be further to find the developmental indicators to discriminate the young ASD children from DD children. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between developmental abilities and autism symptomatology. Participants were 40 ASD children and 40 MA-matched DD children. Results: While comparing the developmental profiles within each group, children with DD showed weakness in the abilities of expressive language and concept comprehension. Children with ASD manifested their shortcoming in the abilities of expressive language, personal social and concept comprehension. The patterns of developmental profiles were different between the two groups. The abilities of personal social and fine motor were the two powerful indexes to discriminate the two groups. The significantly negative relationships were found between developmental abilities and the severity of autism symptoms only in the ASD group. Conclusions: The results provided some implications for early diagnosis and early intervention in ASD.