Without consulting with anyone else write down the first thing you think of in relation to “Autism”

Developmental Psychology What is Autism and how does it impact on development?

describe symptoms and effects of Autism. You need to be able to: describe symptoms and effects of Autism. explain symptoms and explanations with reference to a specific real life case. demonstrate awareness for how autism might affect a child’s development. describe two explanations of Autism by explaining similarities and differences

Autism: Definition Kanner identified Autism in the USA (1943) Asperger identified it in Austria (1944). ‘Autos’ is Greek for ‘self’. Kanner used it to describe individuals have an ‘aloneness’, living in an isolated asocial state. Limited in language and obsessive about the need for sameness. Need to have transition periods!

Autism Quiz Autism is diagnosed more often in boys than girls People with autism do not easily understand other people’s thoughts and feelings Autism runs in families Autism can be detected before a child is two years old

What is autism? A pervasive development disorder A severe impairment in several areas of development which starts in early childhood and becomes apparent as the child begins to develop.

Autism Spectrum TASK Language /communication Wing (1976) identified a triad of impairments; Language /communication Social relationships /behaviour Stereotyped /repetitive behaviour TASK

Using your textbooks Write down in your notes one symptom or characteristic that would fit with each of these three broad categories

Some characteristics of autism Lack of empathy for others Inability to show love or emotions Difficulties in understanding people Good at making sense of the world Lower than normal language ability Low levels of imaginative thinking Problems with communicating with others and building social relationships Low IQ A preference for order and organisation, and a resistance to change Obsessional behaviour

Given what you now know Is Sheldon Cooper autistic? plenary Have them describe his autistic tendencies and try to give a label. My class was familiar with Sheldon if not another well know figure could be used or show clips from this website http://learningneverstops.wordpress.com/tag/bang/ which has several instances where Sheldon shows autistic traits. Given what you now know Is Sheldon Cooper autistic?

Criteria for diagnosing autism DSM-V A.      Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, see text): 1.       Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions. 2.       Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication. 3.       Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers. Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2).

Criteria for diagnosing autism DSM-V B.      Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text): 1.       Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases). 2.       Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat food every day). 3.       Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g, strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interest). 4.       Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement). Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2).

Criteria for diagnosing autism C.      Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life). D.      Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. E.       These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level. Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder. Specify if: With or without accompanying intellectual impairment With or without accompanying language impairment Associated with a known medical or genetic condition or environmental factor

Table 2  Severity levels for autism spectrum disorder Social communication Restricted, repetitive behaviors Level 3 "Requiring very substantial support” Severe deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills cause severe impairments in functioning, very limited initiation of social interactions, and minimal response to social overtures from others. For example, a person with few words of intelligible speech who rarely initiates interaction and, when he or she does, makes unusual approaches to meet needs only and responds to only very direct social approaches Inflexibility of behavior, extreme difficulty coping with change, or other restricted/repetitive behaviors markedly interfere with functioning in all spheres. Great distress/difficulty changing focus or action. Level 2 "Requiring substantial support” Marked deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills; social impairments apparent even with supports in place; limited initiation of social interactions; and reduced or  abnormal responses to social overtures from others. For example, a person who speaks simple sentences, whose interaction is limited  to narrow special interests, and how has markedly odd nonverbal communication. Inflexibility of behavior, difficulty coping with change, or other restricted/repetitive behaviors appear frequently enough to be obvious to the casual observer and interfere with functioning in  a variety of contexts. Distress and/or difficulty changing focus or action. Level 1 "Requiring support” Without supports in place, deficits in social communication cause noticeable impairments. Difficulty initiating social interactions, and clear examples of atypical or unsuccessful response to social overtures of others. May appear to have decreased interest in social interactions. For example, a person who is able to speak in full sentences and engages in communication but whose to- and-fro conversation with others fails, and whose attempts to make friends are odd and typically unsuccessful. Inflexibility of behavior causes significant interference with functioning in one or more contexts. Difficulty switching between activities. Problems of organization and planning hamper independence.

Autism About three quarters of all autistic people are male. About 90% of people with aspergers are male. This suggests that it is a male condition

Autism and Gender Mitchell (1997) The incidence of Autism is one to two per 1000 live births. Boys outnumber girls by four or five to one. 6% of siblings of children with autism will also have problems with all three kinds of impairment. If one monozygotic twin has autism, there’s a 60% chance the other twin will have problems in all three.

For ICD 10 criteria – see https://iancommunity

Check your understanding Lack of e_ _ _ _ _ _ for others Inability to show love or emotions Difficulties in understanding people Lower than normal l_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ability Low levels of imaginative thinking Problems with communicating with others and building s_____ r_____________ Low _ _ A preference for and o _ _ _ _ and organisation, and a resistance to c _ _ _ _ e Obsessional behaviour

Analyse each one: which symptoms are being described? What is it like to be autistic? Here are some first-hand accounts of what it feels like to have autism: Analyse each one: which symptoms are being described? Donna Williams (1994): “I was sick to death of my attention wandering onto the reflection of every element of light and colour, the tracing of every patterned shape and the vibration of noise as it bounced off the walls. I used to love it. It had always come to rescue me and take me away from an incomprehensible world, where, once having given up fighting for meaning, my senses would stop torturing me as they climbed down from overload to an entertaining, secure and hypnotic level of hyper. This was the beautiful side of autism.” “Autism makes me hear other people's words but be unable to know what the words mean. Or autism lets me speak my own words without knowing what I am saying or even thinking.”

Jolliffe, Lansdown & Robinson (1992): “It was ages before I realised that people speaking might be demanding my attention. But I sometimes got annoyed once I realized that I was expected to attend to what other people were saying because my quietness was being disturbed.” Reasons for echolalia: “First, you have to work so hard in order to understand speech, that when the words do eventually go into your brain they seem to become imprinted in the way you hear them. Second, because trying to speak is quite an effort,,, Third... you seem to believe that the voice the person used to say the words is the way you too have to say them. You do not seem to be aware that words can be put across using all different kinds of voices and that there are alternative ways of expressing things.”

Temple Grandin (1984): “I also liked to sit for hours humming to myself and twirling objects or dribbling sand through my hands a the beach. I remember studying the sand intently as if I was a scientist looking at a specimen under the microscope. I remember minutely observing how the sand flowed, or how long a jar lid would spin when propelled at different speeds.” Gunilla Gerland (1997): “It confused me totally when someone said that he or she had seen something I had been doing in a different room... Not in my wildest fantasies could I imagine that that person had actually been there, in that room, then. It seemed as crazy as if someone had said that the same furniture was in all the rooms I was in, that the chairs and tables followed me wherever I went.”

Take your knowledge further: Does Sheldon have Asperger's syndrome? https://learningneverstops.wordpress.com/tag/bang/