1. Diagnosis and symptoms Theories of autism Instructional strategies

2. Diagnosis and prevalence
Affects 1/165 Canadians
DSM-IV-TR Criteria
At least 2 impairments in social interaction
Impairment in communication
Engage in restricted and repetitive behaviour, interests, and activities
Non-triad impairments
Restricted interests, obsessive desire for sameness, preoccupation with parts of objects, exceptional proficiency in very specific skills

3. Academic profile Strengths Weaknesses Visual reasoning
Vocabulary knowledge
Word reading
Math
Weaknesses
Working memory
Processing speed
Reading comprehension
Written expression
Graphomotor abilities

4. Theories of autism Theory of mind Weak central coherence
Executive dysfunction
Hyper-systemizing
Excess neural excitation

5. Evaluation of theories
Explanatory Power: how well does it account for the FULL pattern of symptoms?
Universality: Is this deficit evidenced in ALL individuals with autism?
Specificity: Is the proposed deficit evidenced ONLY in individuals with autism

6. Impairments in theory of mind
Baron Cohen (1985)

7. Theory of mind
Theory of mind: the ability to attribute independent mental states to oneself or to others in order to explain or predict behaviour.
In the Sally Anne test, 80%of children with autism failed to demonstrate theory of mind.

8. Explanatory power Triad of impairments
Impairments in social interaction
Impairments in communication
Restrictive, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour

9. Explanatory power Non-triad Impairments X Restricted interests
X Obsessive desire for sameness
X Islets of ability, idiot savant abilities
X Excellent rote memory
X Preoccupation with parts of objects

10. Universality and specificity
X Universality
X Specificity

11. Impairments in central coherence
Frith (1989)

12. Impairments in central coherence
Central coherence theory asserts that autism is characterized by an imbalance in the integration of information at different levels; individuals with autism see the parts rather than the wholes, and lack the cognitive capacity to integrate the parts into the wholes.

13. Explanatory power Triad of impairments
Impairments in social interaction
Impairments in communication
Restrictive, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour

14. Explanatory power Non-triad Impairments Restricted interests
Obsessive desire for sameness
Islets of ability, idiot savant abilities
Excellent rote memory
Preoccupation with parts of objects

15. Universality and Specificity

16. Impairments in executive function
Ozonoff (1991)
Tower of Hanoi Test

17. Impairments in executive function
Executive function is defined as the ability to maintain an appropriate problem solving set for attainment of a future goal. It includes:
planning
impulse control
inhibition of irrelevant responses
set maintenance
organized search
flexibility of thought and action

18. Explanatory power Triad of impairments
Impairments in social interaction
Impairments in communication
Restrictive, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour

19. Explanatory power Non-triad Impairments Restricted interests
Obsessive desire for sameness
Islets of ability, idiot savant abilities
Excellent rote memory
Preoccupation with parts of objects

20. Universality and specificity

21. Hyper-systemizing Baron-Cohen (2006)
According to this theory all individuals fall on a continuum in their ability to process systemizable (law-governed) information.
process information that is systemized and unsystemized
process highly- systemized information 1 8

22. Hyper-systemizing Baron-Cohen (2006)
According to this theory all individuals fall on a continuum in their ability to process systemizable (law-governed) information.
process information that is systemized and unsystemized
process highly- systemized information 1 8

23. Explanatory power Triad of impairments
Impairments in social interaction
Impairments in communication
Restrictive, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour

24. Universality and specificity

25. Neurological explanations
Courchesne (2010) – Excess neural excitation

26. Exercise
Evaluate the explanatory power of the excess neural excitation theory of autism considering
The triad and non-triad symptoms
The additional symptoms of theory of mind, weak central coherence, executive functioning difficulties, and hyper-systemizing
The academic profile (skill in vocabulary knowledge, word reading, and math; weaknesses in reading comprehension and written expression)

27. My thesis Word level decoding summary
Very poor phonological processing
Word reading/spelling performance ranges from 10th-12th percentile
Uses a visual route more than phonological route
Does not use semantic knowledge to help identify words

28. My thesis Reading comprehension summary
Ranges from 12th to 14th percentile
Strengths
Literal and vocabulary based comprehension
Weaknesses
Inferential comprehension when implicit
Evaluative comprehension when a feeling

29. My thesis Explanation of findings
CG performed better when the task was law governed
Ease with literal and vocabulary-based comprehension
Difficulty with understanding feelings and inferences
Ease with whole words
Difficulty with reading phonetically
Theory of hyper- systemizing (Baron Cohen, 2006)
CG was only able to engage one processing center at a time
In word reading she engaged visual system and neglected phonological and semantic
In reading comprehension she had difficulty integrating knowledge from different areas
Theory of excess neural excitation (Courchesne et al., 2007)

30. Importance of theory

31. Intervention Early intensive behavioural intervention (EIBI)
Most widely recognized approach
McEachin, Smith, & Lovaas (1993) found that after 4.5 years of EIBI treatment, 9 of the 19 participants were indistinguishable from their peers
Involves discrete trial training (breaking down teaching steps and systematically, repetitively teaching each step).

32. Exercise
Follow the program procedure on your handout and teach a classmate the skill using discrete trial training.
Discuss which theory/theories of autism could account for the success of EIBI
Discuss what elements are involved in EIBI that could translate to teaching practice.

33. Intervention in schools
Once children are school, EIBI often ceases
Teachers are not trained in EIBI
Philosophical differences
Requires one-on-one instruction, which is largely not available

34. Interventions based on excess neural excitation theory
Education needs to be
Law-governed, explicit instruction
Provide more support for abstract tasks
Ensure automaticity of each distinct task prior to requiring integration across tasks
Explicitly require integration when several processes are required to complete one task
Reading example....

35. Instructional strategies
Language
Anchor instruction in visual cues
Video-modelling
Take advantage of echolalia
echolalia, delayed non-functional echolalia, delayed functional echolalia
Modeling
Explicitly teach pragmatic language skills (i.e., respond to the intended message rather than correcting grammar, practice asking questions, etc...)
Have students practice noticing non-verbal signals

36. Instructional strategies
Social behaviour
Social stories
Video modelling
Explicit practice in social situations
Preparation (visual schedules, practice for situations, etc...)
Modelling emotion recognition in social situations

37. Instructional strategies
Restricted, repetitive, stereotyped behaviours, interests, and activities
Reducing 'stimming'
Redirect attention (incompatible behaviour)
Replace with socially acceptable alternative
Provide safe space for stimming
Limit perseveration on particular interest and activity.
Encourage development of new interests and activities
May use those interests and activities to motivate learning in difficult areas

38. Differentiated instruction
Visual supports
Video-modelling
Explicit teaching
i.e, teaching theme identification
Task analysis
Could use graphic organizers to help work on each part and then draw together
Reinforcement for motivation
Pre-teaching
Predictable classroom environment (schedules, transition preparation)
Cognitive credit cards (with visuals)

39. Exercise
Imagine that you have a student with autism in your class and for your lesson plan:
Task analysis – determine all of the steps needed to complete the task
Plan how you will ensure understanding of each step of each task and how you will support your student with autism in integrating all the steps involved.
Identify which steps might be more difficult and suggest ideas to support your student.

40. Reflection In one short paragraph outline:
The concepts from the readings/course notes that you were hoping to apply
Your contribution
How your contribution successfully applied those concept