L2: ASD Flashcards
(40 cards)
List DSM-V criteria for ASD
A) Persistent deficits in social communication/interaction across multiple contexts
* Social emotional reciprocity
* Nonverbal communicative behaviour
* Developing, maintaining, understanding relationships
B) Restricted, repetitive parrents of behaviour, interests, or activities
* Stereotyped/repetitive motor movements
* Inflexible adherance to routines (insistence on sameness)
* Restricted and fixated interests abnormal in their intensity/focus
* Sensory hyper/hyporeactivity
Describe early signs of ASD
- Lack of responsiveness in communication and interactions (joint attention, imitation, bodily synchrony)
- Repetitive motor behaviours
- Aggressiveness
List comorbid disorders within ASD
- ADHD
- (Symptoms of) Anxiety & Depression
- Sleep disorders
List secondary symptoms of ASD
- Self-harming behaviours
- Aggressiveness
- Secondary symptoms of ASD might be a product of impairments in social communication capabilities
Explain early detection of ASD, including its importance and challenges
- Interventions for ASD are most effective when started earlier in development
- In severe cases of ASD, early signs are detectable by 6 months of age
Challenges to early detection:
* Clinical presentation of ASD is extremely homogenous, with potential functioning ranging from highly skilled to severely impaired
* There are no reliable screeners for ASD prior to 12 months old, as signs of ASD before this time are transient to other conditions as well
4
Describe insights from developmental science that underlie Naturalistic Developmental Behavioural Interventions (NDBI)
Developmental science has provided insights into the early development of learning processes involved in language, communication, and social learning
* Joint attention and imitation are key precursors to development of language and social interactions
* Children are active learners (not passive recipients in the environment)
* Affective engagement enhances learning
* Social relationships are essential contexts for learning
Define joint attention
Shared focus of two individuals on an object with the goal of sharing information
4
Describe ABA principles that underlie Naturalistic Developmental Behavioural Interventions (NDBI)
- Behavioural change is more effective when using positive rewards
- Behaviours are affected by their environment
- Behaviours are strengthened/weakened by consequences
- Behaviours must be contingently rewarded/disciplined in order for socially significant behavioural changes to occur
Name and define the intervention for ASD and provide two examples of specific treatments
- Naturalistic Developmental Behavioural Interventions (NDBI): class of interventions for ASD that combine ABA principles with insights from developmental science
- Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT)
- Early Start Denver Model (ESDM)
Describe classic ABA interventions
- Discrete Trial Training (DTT): repetitive, drill-like teaching of individual specific skills
- Utilization of specific instructions as discriminative stimuli (cue which signals the availability of a reinforcer)
- Utilization of artifical reinforcers (e.g., food)
- Prompts added between discriminant stimulus (instruction) and behavioural response in order to assist learning
- Operant conditioning principles
4
Describe limitations of original ABA approaches
- Behaviours would not generalize to other contexts or domains
- Overdependence on prompts
- Avoidance behaviours due to lack of intrinsic motivation of child
- Interventions were not spontaneous due to its highly structured nature
3
List the (categories of) core components of NDBI’s
1) Nature of Learning Targets
2) Nature of Learning Contexts
3) Nature of Learning Strategies
Explain the nature of learning targets in NDBI’s
- Learning targets are matched to the childs developmental sequence
- Learning targets include the entire range of developmental domains
- There is a focus on integration of skills across all developmental domains
Explain the nature of learning contexts in NDBI’s
- Learning contexts must allow the child to experience the natural contingencies of their behaviour
- Learning is more efficient and generalized when it occurs in a natural context
a) Habituation to natural distractions in the environment
b) Reduced dependence on prompts
c) Produces learned language that is more natural-sounding - Learning occurs in the child’s zone of proximal development (prompting is scaffolded)
- Learning occurs in the context of meaningful bidirectional parent-child interactions which are centered around engaging activities
4
Explain the benefits of conducting NDBI’s in natural contexts
- Increases efficiency and generalization of learning
- Habituation to natural distractions in the environment
- Reduced dependence on prompts
- Produces learned language that is more natural-sounding
Explain the nature of learning strategies in NDBI’s
NDBI learning strategies involve:
* Motivational strategies
* Behavioural strategies
* Joint activities
6
Describe the constructivist approach within NDBI’s
- Learning occurs in the context of daily routines in order to increase adaptive functioning
- Complexity of learning is gradually increased (ZPD)
- Spontaneity and initiative are fostered and rewarded
- New experiences are connected to existing knowledge
- Learning experiences are designed to engage attention of the child
- Lessons are taught within the child’s developmental sequence
Define efficacy of treatment
Intervention performance in ideal and controlled conditions
Define effectiveness of treatment
Intervention performance under real-world (clinical) settings
Describe the effectiveness and efficacy of ASD interventions
- ASD interventions overall have higher efficacy than effectiveness
- Efficacy: ES = medium - large
- Effectiveness: ES = small - medium
- There is a discrepancy between treatment outcomes in research settings and clinical practice
5
List barriers to care for ASD treatment
- Funding of interventions
- Availability of qualified providers of interventions
- Geographic availability of services
- Systems that are not adequately equipt to treat families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds
- Interventions require significant time and commitment from caregivers
Briefly
What is the main goal of PRT and how is this achieved?
- Targeting pivotal skills within the child’s natural environment to faciliate the development of language and social interactions
- Increasing independence and self-education throughout the day to facilitate widespread improvements
This is achieved by:
* Strengthening the child’s understanding of the relationship between their behaviour and contingent reinforcers
* Increasing the child’s intrinsic motivation to respond to social cues as well as the likelihood, rate, and accuracy of responses
* All of this creates a positive feedback loop of additional learning opportunities
What does PRT stand for?
Pivotal Response Treatment
Explain how motivation to respond to social cues is impaired in ASD
1) Social communication problems in ASD
2) Repeated social failures & noncontingent reinforcement from parents
3) Child does not understand the link between behaviours and consequences
4) Child enters a state of learned helplessness by overly relying on their parents for assistance
- PRT aims to increase the child’s understanding of the link between their behaviours and contingent reinforcers
