Autism Flashcards
Autism
A developmental disorder affecting individuals ability to communicate and specially interact. Known as the autism spectrum disorder by the DSM-5
Socio- emotional reciprocity deficits
People with ASD tend to not use communication to share their emotions and interests, don’t initiate interaction or respond to it
Non verbal communication deficits
- Use non verbal signals such as eye contact and social smiling inappropriately
- facial expressions limited or exaggerated
- gestures used in wrong contexts
- mismatch between facial expressions and tone of voice
Problems with developing and maintaining relationships
- don’t understand that other people have minds
- trouble seeing the world from someone else’s perspective
- unaware of social conventions and norms
- difficulty making friends
repetitive behaviours
- use language unusually e.g. repeating what they just heard (echolalia)
- repetitive physical movements
- use objects over and over again in the same restricted ways
Routines and rituals
- stick inflexibly to routines
- verbal rituals “set patterns” when answering questions
- resistance to change
Unusual reaction to sensory input
- find touch aversive so try to avoid it
- obsessively interested in movements and looks for long period of time
- 1st response to an object may be to lick or sniff
- easily distressed by stimuli
- appear completely indifferent to pain
Social imagination
Find it difficult to image what is going to happen next and can’t anticipate danger
Autistic savant
Some autistic individual have a gifted talent
Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder AO3 - strengths
- ASD model confirmed by statistic technique factor analysis so reflects the reality of the disorders symptoms so DSM-5 classification is valid
- planning effective treatment plan improves accuracy of diagnosis so valid classification
Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder AO3 - weaknesses
- focuses on the individuals deficits which is socially sensitive and could cause psychological harm
- Frith (2003) = ASD diagnosis should focus on the individual superior abilities rather than deficits - overlooks strengths and holds stigma
structure and function of amygdala
- Highly networked structure, interconnected with other brain structure
- powerful influence on behaviours associated with motivation, emotional and social interaction
Bio explanation - Nordahl et al (2012)
- amygdala of children with ASD is 6-9% larger from age 2 than children without ASD
- as children with ASD get older, volume growth stalls but it continues in those in those without ASD
- by late adolescence, there is no difference on volume
- pattern of earlier growth is the unusual feature of amygdala development
Bio explanation- Baron-Cohen (2000) - link between frontal cortex and amygdala
- amygdala = central role in influencing social behaviour
- amygdala = many neural connections with frontal/pre frontal cortex (major role in processing info)
- abnormal development of the amygdala in childhood has profound impacts on the prefrontal cortex
- key cause of social and behavioural deficits
Bio explanation - role of amygdala in impaired social processing
ASD people don’t fully understand emotional expressions of others due to amygdala dysfunction impairing social processing. FMRI scans have shown ppl w ASD have under active left amygdala
Bio explanation - AO3 - Baron-Cohen (1999)
- eyes test = identify the emotion of person just from picture of eyes
- people with ASD found this very difficult to do this
Bio explanation - AO3 - Kennedy et al (2009)
- case study of patient SM
- Had Urbach Weithe Disease - hardening of the amygdala - led to social deficits e.g. facial expressions not identified and never experienced fear
HOWEVER - she didn’t have autism
Bio explanation -AO3 - Herbert (2003)
- Smaller volumes of amygdala in children with ASD than controls
- doesn’t support Nordahl explantion but supports the idea that an abnormal sized amygdala causes ASD
Bio explanation- AO3- White
- link between amygdala dysfunction and social impairment is the outcome of abnormal processing of anxiety
- anxiety is a co- morbid feature of ASD
- a damaged amygdala can’t process anxiety information normally and this leads to social impairment
- more complex that usual amygdala dysfunction explanation
Bio explanation - AO3 - Paul et al
- two women who had experienced abnormality in the left and right amygdala
- the damage didn’t affect the surrounding areas
- they were found to have impaired social functioning but to a much lesser extent to those with ASD than
- amygdala dysfunction alone isn’t enough to fully account symptoms of ASD
