asd Flashcards
(36 cards)
What are the three main domains of autism diagnosis?
Socialisation
- Communication
- Imagination (including repetitive behaviour/interests)
What language do most autistic people prefer to describe themselves? (Kenny et al., 2016)
‘Autistic person’ preferred by people on the spectrum
- ‘Person with autism’ preferred by professionals
- Respect personal choice
How common is autism in the UK, and what is the official term?
1% of population (~700,000 in UK) are autistic
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the official term in DSM-5
- ‘Condition’ sometimes used to reduce stigma
What are the DSM-5 criteria for autism diagnosis?
Persistent deficits in social communication and interaction (across contexts)
- Restricted/repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, activities (including sensory processing)
- Symptoms present in early developmental period
- Symptoms cause significant impairment
- Not better explained by intellectual disability or global delay
What are examples of DSM-5 social-communication deficits?
Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity (e.g. back-and-forth conversation)
- Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviours (e.g. gestures, facial expressions)
- Deficits in developing/maintaining relationships (e.g. adjusting to different social contexts)
What are examples of restricted, repetitive behaviours in autism (DSM-5)?
Stereotyped/repetitive motor movements, speech, or use of objects
- Insistence on sameness, inflexible routines
- Highly restricted, fixated interests
- Hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects
Is autism a homogeneous condition?
No, autism is extremely heterogeneous in both core features and neurocognitive profile
What is the cognitive theory approach to autism?
Early research: autism results from a primary cognitive deficit
- Good theory should have specificity, uniqueness, and universality
What are the three main cognitive theories of autism?
- Theory of Mind (ToM) Deficit
- Executive Dysfunction
- Weak Central Coherence (WCC)
What does the Theory of Mind hypothesis propose about autism?
Autism involves failure to acknowledge others have their own thoughts and beliefs
- Explains socialisation, communication, imagination difficulties
What did Baron-Cohen et al. (1985) find about ToM in autism?
Fewer autistic children pass false belief tasks (e.g. Sally-Anne) compared to typical and Down’s syndrome
- ToM hypothesis: core social-communication impairments due to lack of ToM
Is ToM deficit universal or unique to autism?
Not universal (Happe, 1994; some pass by using alternative strategies)
- Not unique: also seen in children with visual/hearing impairment, or communication disadvantage (Minter et al., 1998; Woolfe et al., 2002)
What is the relationship between ToM task performance and verbal mental age?
Higher verbal mental age predicts better performance on ToM tasks
- Happe (1995) meta-analysis: autistic children need verbal mental age of 12 to pass, compared to age 4 in typical
What about 2nd order false belief tasks in autism?
Autistic people pass 1st order, but fail 2nd order FB (Baron-Cohen, 1989)
- Asperger’s: can pass 2nd order (Bowler, 1992)
- ToM deficit may be delay, not absolute
Does ToM explain all symptoms of autism?
Accounts for social/communication deficits, but not insistence on sameness, routines, repetitive behaviours
What is executive dysfunction and how is it tested?
Difficulties in planning, inhibition, set shifting (Sally Ozonoff et al., 1991)
- Tested with Tower of Hanoi, Wisconsin Card Sort, Windows task
What are the findings from Ozonoff et al. (1991) on executive function in autism?
Autistic children have difficulty with planning, set-shifting, inhibition
- Some pass 1st and 2nd order ToM tasks, but still show executive difficulties
What does the Windows task show about executive dysfunction?
Children <4 and autistic children unable to inhibit prepotent response
- May explain some ToM task failures as inhibition issue, not ToM
Is executive dysfunction a unique or universal cause of autism?
Not unique: also found in PKU, Tourette’s, and other disorders (Welsh et al., 1990)
- Not universal: not seen in all autistic children, or in pre-schoolers (Griffith et al., 1999; Dawson et al., 2002)
What is Weak Central Coherence (WCC)?
Tendency to focus on local details over global context (Frith, 2003)
- Bias toward piecemeal processing; difficulty using context
How does WCC explain language and perception in autism?
Language: fail to use context in ambiguous homographs (Snowling & Frith, 1986)
- Perception: superior performance on embedded figures, block design (Shah & Frith, 1983, 1993), jigsaws (Pring et al., 1995)
Is there evidence against WCC being a primary cause of autism?
Not all show WCC (not universal)
- Not unique: children with pragmatic language impairment (PLI) also show context problems (Norbury et al., 2002)
Can a single cognitive theory explain all of autism?
No; all theories have strengths and weaknesses
- Autism likely results from complex interplay of factors (Happe & Ronald, 2008)
What does the social model of autism focus on?
Focuses on difficulties/differences, knowledge, prejudice, and barriers
- Experience in environment can impact outcomes
