Autism Flashcards
All of the explanations of autism and exam question layouts/techniques
What is autism?
Autism is a lifelong disorder that begins in childhood and impairs everyday functioning. It is a spectrum disorder, which means that everyone shares the same core difficulties, but they are affected to different degrees.
What are the two main categories of symptoms of ASD?
Social triad and the 4Rs
What are the key concepts in the social triad? (ASD)
Social communication, social interaction and social imagination
What does it mean when a person with ASD is impaired in social communication? What are some examples of these impairments?
Individuals with ASD have varying impairments in social communication. This means they have difficulty understanding speech, gestures, eye contact, tone of voice and language. E.g. Speaking in a monotone voice, struggling to understand sarcasm, not being able to use gestures or understand other people’s gestures, interpreting language literally, etc.
What does it mean when a person with ASD is impaired in social interaction? What are some examples of these impairments?
Individuals with ASD have varying impairments in social interaction. This means that they struggle with building and sustaining relationships, sharing, giving and receiving compliments, enjoying conversation, showing concern for others and understanding. E.g. children finding it difficult to instigate or join in play with others, struggling to show empathy and appearing ‘cold’ or not understanding social rules, like being too honest.
What does it mean when a person with ASD is impaired in social imagination? What are some examples of these impairments?
Individuals with ASD varying have impairments in social imagination. This means that they struggle with predicting reactions and events, problem solving, creative activities, coping with changes, relating to others and planning. E.g. may have difficulties playing team games or imagining how others feel.
What are the key concepts in the 4Rs? (ASD)
Repetitive behaviours, routines/rituals, restricted interests and usual reactions to stimuli.
What are some examples of repetitive behaviours? (ASD)
Repetitive behaviours, routines/rituals, restricted interests and usual reactions to stimuli.
What are some examples of rituals/routines/resistance to change? (ASD)
-Inflexibility to routines
-Carrying out behaviour step-by-step
-Demanding people use words in a ‘set’ way
-Overreacting to changes in routine
-Rigid thinking patterns
What are some examples of restricted and fixated interests?
-Individuals with ASD are often preoccupied with a narrow interest or topic (colours, numbers, symbols) to the exclusion of all others
-Become obsessed with very specific things, such as mesmerising the London underground or bus timetables
-‘Little professor syndrome’
What are some examples of unusual reactions to stimuli? (ASD)
-Becoming distressed by loud sounds
-Do not like to be touched (e.g. hugging or having hair brushed)
-They may be obsessive about the movement of objects, like opening and closing or spinning.
-First response to an object may be licking or sniffing it.
-May look at objects for periods for long periods of time for no reason.
Why are boys more frequently diagnosed with autism than girls?
-Current diagnostic criteria overlooks how ASD presents in girls, as it was developed using boys.
-Girls with ASD resemble typically developing boys in terms of social development, but show different brain development to neurotypical girls.
-Girls often diagnosed with ADHD, OCD and anorexia instead of ASD.
-Girls tend to ‘mask’ characteristics of ASD better than boys - leading to lower diagnoses.
A typical exam question for the characteristics of autism is:
Q) Outline the characteristics of autistic spectrum behaviour. [10]
How would you answer this?
-Briefly outline what autism is - “a lifelong disorder that begins in childhood and impairs everyday functioning. It is a spectrum disorder, so everyone experiences the same core difficulties but at varying degrees.”
-Describe the two categories of symptoms (Triad of impairments and the 4Rs) and provide at least 5 examples, e.g. unusual reactions to stimuli, such as covering ears and flapping arms, restricted interests and little professor syndrome, non-verbal communication, struggling to maintain relationships, etc.
-Mention the prevalence in males and explain why girls with ASD often go undiagnosed.
Another typical exam question for the characteristics of autism is:
Q) ‘Deborah has recently been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Deborah’s parents have noticed that her behaviour and linguistic patterns are different to other children of her age.’ Describe how the characteristics of Deborah’s behaviour would be different to other children. [15]
10 marks for AO1:
-Describe the two categories of symptoms (Triad of impairments and the 4Rs) and provide at least 5 examples, e.g. unusual reactions to stimuli, such as covering ears and flapping arms, restricted interests and little professor syndrome, non-verbal communication, struggling to maintain relationships, etc.
-Mention the prevalence in males and explain why girls with ASD often go undiagnosed.
5 marks for AO2:
ALWAYS link back to the statement. For example, say “Deborah’s parents might notice that Deborah has unusual reactions to certain stimuli, such as covering her ears and becoming incredibly distressed when she hears loud noises, while other children are only slightly startled by loud noises.”
What are the two biological explanations of ASD?
Amygdala dysfunction and genetics
Explain the main ideas behind the amygdala dysfunction explanation of ASD.
The amygdalas of people with ASD develop differently in childhood compared to neurotypical people, so this is what causes social difficulties in people with ASD.
What is an example of evidence that supports the fact that ASD brains develop differently to neurotypical brains?
Nordahl et al (2012) found that from 2 years of age, there is a larger growth in the amydala volume n children with ASD (6-9%). by late adolescence/early adulthood there is no difference in amygdala volume between those with ASD and those without. The growth in volume occurs earlier in children with ASD and this may result in abnormalities in the neutral organisation of the amygdala and damage its functioning.
What is an example of research that supports the idea that amygdala dysfunction impacts social behaviour in those with ASD?
Baron-Cohen (2000) As the amygdala has neural connections with the frontal cortex, abnormal development of the amygdala in childhood is a casual factor involved in social and behavioural deficits. Therefore, those with ASD have difficulties in understanding the expression of emotions in other people. He investigated this using the ‘eyes task’.
What is the ‘eyes task’? (ASD)
Adults with ASD were matched with a control group of adults without ASD.
Participants were presented with photographs that only showed the eye area of people making different facial expressions and asked to identify the expression shown.
The brain activity was measured in an MRI scanner during the task.
What were the findings and conclusions of the ‘eyes task’? (ASD)
ASD performed significantly worse on the eye task than controls.
MRI scans showed that the left amygdala was not activated in the ASD participants at all, but was strongly activated in the controls. The left amygdala is involved when we infer emotional state from facial expressions (especially eyes) and this function is impaired in people with ASD.
How can the amygdala dysfunction explanation be applied to methods of modifying ASD?
Oxytocin
If research suggests that the amygdala dysfunction is a cause of ASD behaviours related to social behaviours and emotional processing, then improving the amygdala may help to reduce these behaviours. Intranasal oxytocin has been found to enter the brain effectively and work to increase oxytocin levels in areas such as the limbic system, where the amygdala is located. Some studies have shown that when people with ASD take intranasal oxytocin, they show improved scores on tests of social behaviours.
A typical exam question for the amygdala dysfunction explanation of autism is:
Q) Describe one biological explanation for autism spectrum behaviours. [10]
How would you answer this?
-Brief intro: Explain what the amygdala is and that it is key in emotional and social processing.
-Explain how amygdala development is different in those with ASD, provide evidence, e.g. Nordahl et al (2012)
-How is it dysfunctional? Use the Baren-Cohen study
A typical exam question for the amygdala dysfunction explanation is:
Q) Evaluate one biological explanation of ASD. [10]
How would you answer this?
-ve Some of the research isn’t fuly valid
Baren Cohen’s ‘eyes task’ study. A problem with this is that interpreting emotions is incredibly subjective and therefore may not be entirely valid.
+ve Supporting evidence
Kennedy et al (2009) did a case study on a woman called SM who had damage to the amygdala. Did not have ASD, but displayed similar social difficulties, such as not understanding personal space and not feeling fear.
-ve Inconsistent findings
Howard et al (2000) an increased amygdala volume was found in adults with ASD.
Pierce et al (2001) a decreased amygdala volume was found in adults with ASD.
What are the main ideas of the genetics explanation of ASD?
This explanation believes that schizophrenia is inherited through genes passed down through families. This is investigated through twin, family and adoption studies.