ABAT Module 1

Question 1

What is ASD?

Answer 1

Neurodevelopmental Disorder characterized by:
- Deficits in social communication & interaction
- Repetitive and restrictive behaviors and interests
- Can impact daily functioning at various levels

Question 2

Briefly describe some deficits in social communication.

Answer 2

• may struggle with non-verbal communication ex. maintaining eye contact
• difficulty understanding social cues ex. tone of voice, sarcasm, and humour
• difficulty initiating and sustaining conversations ex. persons level of interest in listening to their interests is not taken into account
• Can lead to feelings of isolation and social withdrawal

Question 3

Briefly describe deficits regarding restrictive and repetitive behaviours and interests.

Answer 3

• repetitive movements ex. hand flapping, rocking
• insistence on sameness and routine
• intense interest in topics or objects
• highly rigid behaviours
• deviation from expected routine or pattern is highly distressing
• lack of interest in other activities from the obsessed one

Question 4

Triad of Primary Impairments

Answer 4

Everyone with ASD has impairments in these three triads, theway in which it manifests varies from case to case.
1. Social Interaction
2. Social Communication
3. Rigidities with Thinking and Difficulty with Social Imagination

Question 5

Behavorial Triad

Social Interaction

Answer 5

Difficulty understanding social rules, behaviours, and relationships. (Ex. not knowing how to take turns, showing indifference to the other person)

Question 6

Bheavorial Triad

Social Communicaton

Answer 6

Difficulty with verbal and non-verbal communication (For ex. not understanding common facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures.

Question 7

Behavorial Triad

Rigidity in Thinking and Difficulty in Social Imagination

Answer 7

Difficulty in the development of inter/intra personal play (For ex. difficulties in imaginative play or having limited activities that are possibly copied and pursued rigidly and repetitively)

Question 8

Risk Factors of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Answer 8

Mainly genetic causes:
* having a sibling
* certain genetic or chromosomal conditions, such as fragile X syndrome
* Experiencing complications at birth
* having older parents

Question 9

Pragmatic Language

Answer 9

Language used and acquired for everyday social contexts, while deficits in it are known for people with ASD, their fundamental features are not really known.

Question 10

Receptive Language

Answer 10

Understanding of language provided in various ways:
* sounds and words
* movements and gestures
* signs and symbols
Children acquire and process receptive faster than expressive language.

Question 11

Expressive Language

Answer 11

Ability to request objects, make choices, ask questions, answer, describe events, gestures (waving and pointing), writing, facial expressions, and vocalizations.

Question 12

Sensory Motor Skills

Answer 12

are those we use to take in information about the world through our senses, to develop our body’s movement, or motor response to that information.

Question 13

Social Skills

Answer 13

skills used to communicate, and interact with each other, both verbally nad non-verbally, through gestures, body language, and our personal experience

Question 14

Joint Attention

Answer 14

When one perosn purposefully coordinates his or her attention with that of another person, we refer to the behaviour as “joint attention”. Involves two people paying attention to the same thing, intentionally and for social reasons.

Question 15

Restricted, Repetitive Behaviours (RRBs)

Answer 15

heterogenous ranging from steretypic body movements to rituals, to restricted interests. RRBs are most strongly associated with autism but occur other clinical disorders as well as typical development.

Question 16

Learning Disability

Answer 16

disability that affects the acquisiton of knwoledge and skills, in particullar a neurodevelopmental condition, affecting intellectual processes, educational attainment, and skills necessary for independant living and social functioning.

Question 17

Processing Disorder

Answer 17

deficiency in a child’s or adult’s ability to effective process information gathered by their senses. If a child’s auditory, visual and sensory processing is impaired, it often impact their academic abilities, often leading to low self-esteem and socialization difficulties.

Question 18

Asperger’s Syndrome

Answer 18

Type of ASD that affects social interaction and communication skills. Often have a high level of intelligence, and usually excel in one field of interest.

Question 19

Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)

Answer 19

is a type of ASD where an infividual does not meet the full diagnostic criteria for other ASDs but still has siginificant impairemnt in social interaction, communication, and behaviour.

Question 20

Social Communication Disorder (SCD)

Answer 20

affect’s the ability to use language for social purposes, such as initiating and maintaining conversations and understanding nonverbal cues.