Autism A03 Flashcards
(25 cards)
biological Support from clinical studies
Some studys have investigated people who have not been diagnosed with ASD but have experinced damage to both their amygdala. Daniel Kennedy and his co-workers (2009) studied the famus case of S.M. She lost botht he functioning of her amygdala due to a rare gentic disorder. Her preferred personal space distance was half for the matched control participants.
Inconsistent findings
Biologicla A03
Studies into the link between amygdala volume and asd symptoms provide differing outocmes. In adults, some studies showed increased volume in ASD participants, others showed decreased. Herbert et al also reported smaller amygdala volume in participants with ASD compared to the controls
Indirect rther than direct affects BIOLGOICL
The amygdala is known to play a crucial role in regulating fear and anxiety related behaviours. People with a dysfunctional amygdala cannot process fear and anxiety normally and this in turn influences social functioning.
The overlook of epigenics
biologicla ao03
epigenetics is a growing area often overlooked. Genetic predisposition may interact with prenatal environmental factors (e.g., maternal stress, toxins), affecting gene expression without altering DNA. This suggests that even if there’s a genetic basis, it’s not fixed — undermining the idea that autism is purely hereditary.
Research support
biological
Colvert et al selected twins from the twins early development study. Several measurments of autistic traits were assessed. They found concordance rates for MZ twins were 0.77 to 0..99 and for DZ 0.22 to 0.65. The researchers were able to calulate estimates of heritability of ASD, ranging from 56% to 95% depedning on the measure used.
Incomplete explanation
biologicla
Twin studies cannot rule out a significant role for the enviromental factors in ASD. This is because they are conducted with MZ and DZ twins usually raised together in the same families. The diathesis strss model proposes that ASD is caused by the interaction of a genetic predisposition with a early damaging insult to the developing brain,.
Real-world applicaitons
biological
Researchers are increasingly focusing on ways of improving the reliability of diagnosis at earlier ages. Earlier diagnosis can help to prepare families for the challenges a child with ASD is likely to face, through genetic councelling. iT ALSO PRESENTS MORE OPTIONS FOR EARLIER INTERVENTION.
Research support
Individual
Cohen et al used the eye tasks to assess tom defecits. the pp were 15 adults with ASD and a control group of 239 without ASD. PP witrh ASD performed signifcantly worse on this task than the controls, a finding that indicates a impaired ability to understand another persons internal mentla state.
However, higgens et al in 2024 questions the validity, as research suggests that it is deeply flawed images are not a image of a internal mentla state
Real world applicaitons
INdividual
Psycholgoists have created many ways people with asd can be helped to mindread. Carol grey used social stories, based around short stories that highlight social cues and varying perspectives in evereyday social situations.They are sued as teaching aids to help the individual with ASD understand the unwritten rules of interpersonal interaction, especially the htoughts and feelings of various characters in the stories
ToM defecits arnt unique to people with ASD.
ToM deficits aren’t unique to autism. Research shows children with ADHD or schizophrenia also show ToM impairments. This challenges the specificity of ToM as an explanation for autism and weakens its diagnostic usefulness.
Supporting evidence INDIVIDUAL
Uta frith carried out an important experiment testing WCCT. Ppl w ASD performe better on this task than the other groups of pp. Suggesting that a prefernece for local processing cognitive style is a advantage when details are important.
A posotive explanaiton of ASD
Individual
WCCT is a posotive explanation of ASD. Unlike TOM it doesnt claim that a damaging cognitive defecit is the primary impairment in ASD. It recognises tha tppl w asd have superior abilities in local processing, it is a cognitive style or preference. As well as this as it is a prefernce, for locla over global, it can be overcome if the person is introduced to do so.
Contradictory findings individual
Some autistic individuals show enhanced global processing under certain conditions. This contradicts WCC’s idea of a fixed local bias. It suggests processing style may be task-dependent, meaning WCC may oversimplify a more flexible cognitive profile.
Research support for E and S differnce
Social
Lawson et al tested groups of pp for es abilities. males withASD, males without ASD and females. Females prefformed better on E task than males. Males without ASD performed better than males with ASD. Females worse on S. Supporting ES.
Gender sterotypes
SOCIAL
E-S theory may reinforce gender stereotypes. It’s based on the idea that males are more systemising and females more empathising, but this binary has been criticised for lacking cultural neutrality. Critics argue it may reflect societal bias more than neurological truth — a major conceptual flaw.
Cross culture consistency
Wakabayashi et al tested 1500 japanese pp, ppl w asd, ppl from general pop and 1250 uni students. BothEQ and SQ were assessed. In line with e-s THEORY, PP WITH asd SCORED LOWER than the other 2 groups on eq and higher on sq. However, the true significance of this study lies in its cross cultural nature. It was conducted in a collectivist culture very differnt from individualist Western cultures in which most research has been carried out. But the outcomes are similar= universialy valid explantion of ASD.
Lack of evidence
Social
Rimland identifed severla problems with the conclusions drawn by leo Kanner. Most parents of children with ASD do not match the descriptio of the refrigerator mother. Most who do match do not have a child with ASD. Campbell et al aslo said that 93% of children with ASD do not have siblings with ASD
Outdated explanation Social
Modern psychodynamic theorists reject this outdated view. While the theory has been discredited, its legacy lingers in parental guilt and stigma. It highlights the danger of theories that pathologise parenting — a reminder that explanations must be grounded in current, compassionate science.
Confusion of cause and effect social
The refrigerator mother theory is clear in stating that distant, unaffectionate and emotionless mother child relationship is the cause of ASD. It is well documented that mothers of children with ASD are often overwhelmed by stress and depression. This is taken as evidence in support of the theory. however, it is equally likely that a child with ASD causes the stress and depression.
PECS EFFECTIVNESS
Marjorie charlop chirsty et al investigated the effects of PECS on the development of speech in 3 boys with ASD. All had been through speech training programmes that ahd been ineffective. the researchers found that after PECS, all 3 children amde significantly more spontaneous speech utternaces after PECS than they did before. Eye contact and joint attention also improved.
- This study also indicated the ease of use, the children progressed through PECS rapidily with a mean time of 170 minutes fopr all 6 stages.
- PECS might encourage communication, but not social bonding. Some researchers argue it promotes instrumental communication (“I want this”) without fostering shared attention or relationships — potentially reinforcing isolation if not paired with broader interaction training.
Social Implicaitons PECS
PECS materials such as high-quality picture cards and a mobile app are expensive. As well as this PECS particioners should be trained and qualified.
However, the costs shoudl be balaned against the costs of alternative treatemnts that may be even less effectve in improving the functional communication skills of children with ASD.
PECS ETHICAL ISSUES
One aspect of PECS is that it has potential ethical benefits. the pre programme preperation involves identifying the reinforcers that the child finds motivating, increasing th eliklihood that the programme will be succesful.
It also allows the hcild to feel better about themselves increasing self esteem.
-Simon baorn COhen argues that it is critical of any treatment that relis on external rewards, whichmay arise ethical issues over stage 1 which involves hte teacher with holding a much enjoyed object until the child has exchanged a picture.
Effectivnes RDI
-Guestein et al found support for effectivenss. They assessed the effects on 16 chikdren with ASD of following RDI for a minimum of 2 years. Over 15 children who were being taught in special education classrooms before the programme only 3 were being taught like this after. 14 in the ‘autism range’ before the programme only 2 remained after.
- Lack of evidence, there are no gold standard research studies of RDI. The RDI studies do not include techniques whee RDI is compared with a control group, the participants are randomly allocated to a control or treatemnt group and the procedure is blinded so that researchers do not know who is recieving treatment. Gustiens study did not meet tnis crieteria.
-uneven outocmes RDI’s parent-led model may create uneven outcomes. While empowering for some, it relies heavily on parental consistency and training, which can disadvantage families with fewer resources or higher stress — raising concerns about accessibility and equali
RDI ethical implications
Ethical benefits depend on a treatment being effective. As there is effectivlly no evidene that is true of rdi. But it isequally obvious that many caregivers of ASD have tried RDI and found it effective. So it does suggest there is some benefit in reducing pressure in fmailies, increasing self esteem and happiness of clients recieving treatment.
-On the other hand, it could create false hope which is ethically unacceptbale.
