Abnormal Across the Lifespan Flashcards
What are Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Disorders that begin in the developmental period that are associated with personal, social, or academic impairments
What are the 6 Neurodevelopmental Disorders (in the DSM)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Intellectual Disability
- Communication Disorders
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
- Specific Learning Disorder
- Motor Disorders
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
deficits in the ability to relate and communicate with others, and a restricted range in activities and interests (living in their own world)
What is Autistic Thinking
viewing yourself as the centre of the universe
What word does the term “autism” come from?
the Greek word “Autos” meaning “self”
A diagnostic term was used in the previous edition of the DSM, to describe a distinct disorder within the autistic autism spectrum, what is it?
Aspergers Disorder (it is now classified as a form of ASD of diagnostic criteria for ASD are met)
What is Aspergers Disorder?
a disorder that involves social awkwardness, repetitive behaviours, or fixated interests, without significant language or cognitive defects
What are 3 characteristics of ASD
- utter loneliness (some may be mute)
- repeated and purposeless movements (twirling, flapping the hands, moving back and forth)
- panic to an environmental change (if something is moved or out of place) and if their routines are disrupted even a little bit
Children who develop ASD appear to have failed to develop a ____-_______.
Self-concept, a sense of themselves as distinct individuals, and have difficulty interacting with others
What percentage of ASD subjects have mild to moderate levels of intellectual disability? And what percentage have severe levels
mild-moderate = 30%
severe = 40%
What did Psychologist O, Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues suggest about ASD
That children with ASD have perceptual deficits that limit them to processing only one stimulus at a time.
Ex. children become attached to their parents because they are associated with primary reinforcers (eg.food and hugging), but children with ASD however attend to either the food or the hugging and don’t connect it with the parent
What do MRI scans show about ASD
that children with ASD have period of overgrowth in their brain size early in postnatal development, then a period of significantly slowed growth resulting in the brain being smaller than average
What area of the brain (in a person with ASD) is smaller than usual and what does it result in
The corpus callosum (connects the two halves of the brain), which effects lateralization of brain function
What did Nicolson and Szarmari’s research indicated about children with ASD
That genetics plays a significant role in the neurodevelopment of children with ASD (chromosomes 2 and 7)
What type of neurones in children with ASD are not developed
Mirrorneurons (help with performing actions or watching other people perform the same actions)
