ASD Flashcards
What is the diagnostic criteria for ASD?
Persistent deficits in social communciation and interaction across multiple contexts; restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities and symptoms must be present early in development.
Describe deficits in Social Communciation.
- Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, 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. - Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging 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.
- Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, 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.
Describe restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities
- Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (echolalia).
- Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior
- Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus
- Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment.
What are the levels of severity?
Level 3: Requiring very substantial support across social communication and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
Level 2: Requiring substantial support across social communication and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
Level 1: Requiring support across social communication and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
What are some associated features of ASD that support diagnosis?
Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder also have intellectual impairment and/or language impairment. The gap between intellectual and adaptive functional skills is often large.
Motor deficits are often present, including odd gait, clumsiness, and other abnormal motor signs (e.g., walking on tiptoes).
Selfinjury may occur, and disruptive/challenging behaviors are more common in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder than
other disorders, including intellectual disability.
Adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder are prone to anxiety and depression.
What is the prevalence of ASD?
In recent years, reported frequencies for autism spectrum disorder across U.S. and nonU.S. countries have approached 1% of the population.
What are the prognostic factors of ASD?
The best established prognostic factors for individual outcome within autism spectrum disorder are presence or absence of associated intellectual disability and language impairment (e.g., functional language by age 5 years is a good prognostic sign) and additional mental health problems. Epilepsy, as a comorbid diagnosis, is associated with greater intellectual disability and lower verbal ability.
What environmental factors increase risk for ASD?
A variety of nonspecific risk factors, such as advanced parental age, low birth weight, or fetal exposure to valproate, may contribute to risk of aufism spectrum disorder.
What are genetic and physiological risk factors for ASD?
Heritability estimates for autism spectrum disorder have ranged from 37% to higher than 90%. Currently, as many as 15% of cases of autism spectrum disorder appear to be associated with a known genetic mutation.
What are sex differences in diagnosis of ASD?
ASD is diagnosed four times more often in males than in females. Females tend to be more likely to show accompanying intellectual disability, suggesting that girls without accompanying intellectual impairments or language delays may go unrecognized, perhaps because of subtler manifestation of social and communication difficulties.
What other disorders are comorbid with ASD?
Autism spectrum disorder is frequently associated with intellectual impairment and structural language disorder. Specific learning difficulties (literacy and numeracy) are common, as is developmental coordination disorder. Medical conditions include epilepsy, sleep problems, and constipation.
