Communication + Interaction Flashcards
(24 cards)
EP context + autism
- High proportion of EP casework involves children with autism
- Contribute to multi-agenxy approach
- Consultation, assessment, observation
- Therapy focusing on skill dev
- Managing transitions between schools
DMS-5 Autism diagnostic criteria
A) Persistent deficit in social communication + interaction: deficit in social-emotional reciprocy, non-verbal communication, dev relationships
B) Restricted, repetitive patterns of beh: repetitive motion, inflexible routine, hyper/hypo sensory reactivity
C) Symptoms present in early childhood before 9
D) Cause sig impairment in social areas
E) Disturbances not better explained by other condition
Getting the gist difficulty
- Drive for central coherence
- Enable us to give meaning to events
- Intuitively dev skills but autistic dont
Mind blindness difficulty
- Blind to mind of others (Baron-Cohen)
- Difficulty understanding others feelings
- Theory of mind
- Can dev skill later than non-autistic peers + to lesser degree (Firth)
Theory of mind
- Allows us to:
- Relate to others
- Empathise
- Predict beh
- Understand others intentions
- Correct misunderstanding
- Mislead
- Manipulate
- Deceive
Gender differences in autism
- Gould + Ashton-Smith (2011)
- Girls are better at masking their differences
- See autism as male condition + assessment is male-centred
- Girls often misdiagnosed with anxiety, ADHD, OCD etc
Mild Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Manage in mainstream with support
- Passes exams
- Attends uni
- Good job
- Lives independently
Moderate autism spectrum disorder
- Manage in mainstream but with high levels of support
- Resource provision
- Pass some exams
- Supported training apprenticeship
Severe Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Ed in specialist school
- 24 care required
- Unable to achieve any level of independence
Potential strengths of having autism
- Paying close attention to detail
- In-depth knowledge of areas of interest
- Thrive in structured, rule-based tasks
- Exceelent at memorising facts
- Characterised as neurodiversity rather than neurodev disorder
Autism spectrum triad - Social interaction
- Enjoy contact with other children/adults or disliking it
- Anxious at interactions
- Reduced motivation to work with others in group task
- Making sense of social rules
- Difficulty knowing how/when to enagage so can appear pushy or distant
- Understanding others feelings = offensive
- Difficulty with relationships
Autism spectrum triad - Social imagination difficulties
- Needing sameness + routine
- School changes are challenging
- Uncertainty of whats next
- Repetitive play patterns, rituals + obsessions
- Limits social integration with others
- Difficulty assessing threats or consequences of action
Autism spectrum triad - Social communication difficulties
- Expressing needs/asking for help is difficult
- Using lang in social situations: initiating convos, engaging in turn-tking convos hard
- Understanding others communication
- Taking things literally
- Difficulty interpreting non-verbal lang
Signs of sensory sensitivity
- Differ in ways they process sensory input
- Hypersensitive = over-responsive to sensory input leading to avoidance - sensitive to noise or lights
- Hyposensitive = under-responsive to sensory input leading to sensory-seeking beh - increased need for movement + physical touch
- Stimming = sounds or movement that can manage emotional distress
- Vestibular hyposensitivity = sensory seeking beh for movement/balance
Development of play
- Egocentric play = content on own, little awareness of others/sharing
- Parallel play = willing to play alongside others but in different contexts - not with same toys
- Associative play = more interaction with others - same activity different goals
- Co-operative play = playing same activity + goal with others
Talking mats
- Some struggle with expressing emptions + thoughts
- Struggle to mkake choices but find it easier if visual
- 3 picture sets of symbols - topic, option + visual scale
- Once topic is chose, give 1 option at a time + indicate feelings of it
Support for social communication/interaction
- Modify lang to facilitate understanding
- Face to face contact when communicating
- AAdditional processing time
- Topics of interest used
- Develop joint attention skills via collaborative turn-taking activities
Support for flexibility of thinking + beh
- Visual timetables
- Advanced warning before change
- Visual timers
- Allocate time devoted to interest
- Involve other children in preferred activity to avoid isolation
Support for emotional regulation
- Become overwhelmed by challenges leading to emotional outbursts
- Awareness of triggers - START chart
- Quiet, calminfg space
- Special interest engagement
- Relaxation techniques
Behaviour management template
- Make better sense of childs challenges + ways to help
1) Description - Identify what the beh is
2) Situation - where beh usually happens
3) Triggers - why it usually happens
4) Responses - others response to beh
5) Benefits of beh
STAR approach to understanding beh
- S = Setting - where it occured?
- T = Triggers - why?
- A = Actions - What beh?
- R = Results - response?
Social story intervention
- Social stories (Gray, 2015) describe scenario
- Help understand situations better
- Modify inappropriate beh through responding
- Tailor to specific needs
Comic strip conversations
- Symbols to represent social interation + aspects of convo
- See others perspective
- Consider alternative ways to respond
- Prepare for upcoming convos
Systematic interventions
- School auits to assess proficiency
- CPD training packages to help staff understanding
- Home-based support sessions
- Multi-agency consultations
