Autism

• Autism

  ASD is a life long, developmental learning difficulty. Its a disorder of communication and of how the individual understands the world around them.

  ASD is usually defined and diagnosed by identifying deficits that the individual shows.
• Communication issues

  Lack of social-emotional reciprocity: they often don't use verbal communication to shar their interests or emotions with others

  Issues with non-verbal communication: they may rarely use eye contact and inappropriately exaggerated facial expressions or gestures.

  Problems developing and maintaining relationships: lack of theory of mind, unaware of social rules and failing to understand social cues.
• Repetitive behaviours

  Repetitive behaviour: they may repeat what they hear, language may be overly formal and complex. There's also repetitive movements.

  Desire for routines: they often stick to routines and overreact to changes in routines.

  Restricted/fixated interests: may show a particular obsessive interest or have detailed knowledge in a certain topic

  Sensory inputs: many struggle with physical touch and noise
• Amygdala dysfunction (biological)

  The amygdala is highly linked to regulating emotions and is larger in children with autism.

  Nordahl et al found the amygdala grows 6%-9% faster during childhood in ASD. Early growth may lead to abnormalities in the connections between neurons.

  Baron-Cohen states this can influence social and behavioural deficits including: social perception, social behaviour and processing social information.
• Evaluation of amygdala dysfunction (biological)

  S-Kennedy et al found that by studying a women with lost amygdala function, it plays a role in managing our social behaviour.

  C-Other studies like Howard et al showed an increased size of the amygdala while others showed a decrease. Research lacks external reliability

  P-Deficits in communication may not be directly caused by the amygdala, the theory is overly simplistic
• Genetic predisposition (biological)

  Family- among the general population there's a 0.11% chance of developing ASD. Among siblings there's a 2.2% chance if your sibling has already been diagnosed with ASD.

  Twin studies- Bailey et al found the concordance rate for MZ twins was 60% but the rate was 0% for DZ twins

  CHD8 gene- Bernier states that people with this gene have a "strong likelihood" of developing autism

  Fragile X- This includes intellectual disabilities, a very long face and protruding ears. Around 60% of those with FXS met the diagnosis criteria of ASD
• Evaluation of genetic predisposition (biological)

  S-Colvert assessed 6,423 twins and found a concordance rate for MZ twins was 77%-99% but for DZ twins it was 22%-65%

  C-Hallmayer et al suggests the heritability of autism to be 55% and suggests the other 45% is due to the environment

  M- high concordance rate for MZ twins is due to shared environmental factors

  P-the cause of ASD cant be fully genetic since the concordance rate is only 70%-80%
• Theory of mind (individual)

  Baron-Cohen argues that ToM is impaired in those with ASD as is referred to as 'mind blindness'

  ToM includes the ability to follow another persons line of sight, engage in pretend play and the imitation of behaviour.

  Delays in joint attention development causes a ToM deficit which can explain problems with social communication. A key deficit in ToM is their ability to distinguish between physical and mental objects.

  In the Sally-Anne task only 4/20 children with autism got the ToM question correct.
• Evaluation of Theory of mind (individual)

  S- Baron-Cohen used the 'eyes task' and found that adults with ASD are less able to understand the emotions of others. The Sally-Anne task found 20% of ASD children answered correctly when 85% of neurotypical children answered correctly.

  M- the Sally-Anne task relies heavily on the childs ability to understand language

  P- this theory is limited in explaining the non-social features of ASD like repetitive behaviours
• Weak central coherence theory (individual)

  Someone with weak central coherence may remember very specific details but unable to summarise the content.

  Frith states that central coherence is weak in those with ASD. They are able to focus on high levels of detail but not if a task requires wider context. He states that central coherence is a cognitive style and it exists on a spectrum.

  Frith also states we perceive the world as local processing and global. People with ASD have impaired global processing.
• Evaluation of weak central coherence theory (individual)

  S- Shah and Frith carried out a study where ppts were shown patterns and had to make smaller block from that pattern. Those with ASD performed much better which shows individuals with ASD performed better when it involved local processing.

  P- the theory lacks a mechanism to explain how weak central coherence actually develops
• Empathising-Systemising theory (social psychological)

  Empathising is a drive to recognise, identify and respond to others emotions. Baron-Cohen states that people with ASD have under-developed empathising skills. Systemising is the drive to analyse and understand systems.

  He argues that females are better at empathising and males systemising.

  The theory states that those with ASD may have over-developed systemising skills which could explain repetitive behaviours
• Evaluation of empathising-systemising theory (social psychological)

  S- Lawson et al tested 3 groups and found females performed best at empathising followed by men without ASD then men with ASD

  C- Valla et al used the 'eye task' and found men performed high on systemising but women performed high on both. This theory then has low external reliability

  M- the theory focuses too heavily on high-functioning autism, more diverse samples are needed.
• Refrigerator mother (social psychological)

  Refrigerator parents are cold, distant, overly critical and provide physical but no emotional care.

  Bettelheim stated that the deprivation suffered by prisoners in Nazi camps was similar to the lack of emotional care experienced by children with ASD.

  Having a refrigerator mother causes ASD as the child cant use the mother as a place to go when facing obstacles. The child then withdraws and doesn't conquer these obstacles.
• Evaluation of refrigerator mothers (social psychological)

  S- Rutter et al studied children from a Romanian orphanage and found 6% showed autistic behaviour and another 6% showed miler symptoms of autism.

  C- Rimland found that many children with ASD don't have a sibling with it. If ASD was caused by parenting then siblings would also have ASD

  Cause and effect- having an emotionally distant mother is an effect of ASD rather than a cause. Mothers may seem distant due to their own mental state from raising a child with ASD