Autistic Spectrum Behaviours - characteristics

Question 1

What three aspects of ASD do sufferers have problems with in terms of Using Communication for Social Interaction?

Answer 1

• Social-emotional reciprocity
• nonverbal communication
• problems developing and maintaining relationships

Question 2

What four aspects of ASD do sufferers have problems with in terms of Repetitive Behaviours?

Answer 2

• Repetitive behaviour patterns
• routines, rituals and resistance to change
• restricted and fixated interests
• unusual reactions to sensory input

Question 3

What is the validity of diagnosis for Autism?

Answer 3

• The diagnosis of ASD has changed significantly with the publication of DSM-V in 2013. DSM is one of the manuals used by psychiatrists and clinical psychologists to identify mental disorders.
• Previously, someone demonstrating symptoms on the autism spectrum could be diagnosed with one of five different disorders: Autistic disorder, retts disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, aspergers syndrome and pervasice developmental disorder not otherwise specified.
• However there were two main reasons why this differentiation of disorders was not considered to be valid.
• First, there was little research or clinical evidence to support a clear cut separation between the disorders. For instance, the overlap between Asperger’s syndrome and high functioning autism is so large that they are essentially the same disorder.
• Second, clinicians who had to make the diagnosis were inconsistent in how they applied the criteria. e.g. well off white patients were more likely to be diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, patients from poor, non-caucasian backgrounds tended to be placed in the category of PDD-NOS.
• DSM-V therefore collapsed these disorders into a single category: Autistic Spectrum disorders.

Question 4

1. Using communication for social interaction; SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL RECIPROCITY

Answer 4

• reciprocity refers to the normal back and forth of everyday communication. If we start a conversation with someone, we usually expect an appropriate response.
• This reciprocity is lacking in individuals with ASD, so someone with the disorder doesn’t use communication to share their interests or emotions.
• They don’t initiate social interactions or respond to other’s people’s attempts to do so.
• They can’t maintain the normal low of a conversation, so any interaction is usually one sided. When someone with ASD does attempt to interact, it may well be inappropriate e.g. touching or even licking.

Question 5

1. Using communication for social interaction; NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Answer 5

• facial expressions and body posture are usually crucial in maintaining social interactions, but someone with ASD uses eye contact and social smiling very little.
• Their facial expressions generally are limited or sometimes exaggerated. Gestures such as pointing and nodding are used inappropriately.
• There are usually issues with body posture, such as not facing the other person in conversation, or standing too close.
• nonverbal signals don’t communicate emotions accurately, so there may be a poor match between the emotion apparently being displayed in a person’s facial expression and their tone of voice, for example

Question 6

1. Using communication for social interaction; Problems developing and maintaining relationships

Answer 6

• People with with ASD are said to lack a theory of mind- they don’t understand that other people have minds, so they have trouble seeing the world from someone else’s perspective.
• It is hard for them to change their own behaviour to suit the social context, because they are unaware of the rules or conventions that apply in social situations
• so they may express emotions inappropriately, for example by laughing at the wrong time.
• At the same time someone with ASD may fail to pick up the verbal and nonverbal signals that other people use to indicate discomfort that social ‘rule’ has been breached.
• Understandably, because of theses problems, children with ASD have difficulty making friends. They don’t initiate friendships, or play cooperatively with other children (they may play alongside others, but doing their own thing).

Question 7

In terms of Severity of ASD, what are the three levels according to the DSM-V?

Answer 7

• someone with level 1 severity is described as ‘requiring support’, otherwise his or her social functioning is impaired.
• at level 2, the individual requires ‘substantial support’. Even with this in place, his or her functioning is likely to be impaired.
• at level 3, the individual needs ‘very substantial support’. At this level, a person with ASD, even with support, will be severely impaired in functioning.

Question 8

2. Repetitive behaviours; REPETITIVE BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS

Answer 8

• People with ASD may use language unusually. They might repeat what they have just heard, from individual words to longer passages of speech (echolalia).
• Language can sometimes be bizarrely formal and pedantic (used to be nicknamed little professor syndrome). Movements can also be highly repetitive, from hand gestures e.g. flicking to whole body motions e.g. spinning or rocking. Objects are used in the same way over and over again.

Question 9

2. Repetitive behaviours; ROUTINES, RITUALS AND RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Answer 9

• People with ASD stick inflexibly to routines, carrying out a behaviour (e.g. playing with toys) in a step by step sequence with no variation. They may engage in verbal rituals, such as demanding that other people use words in a ‘set’ way (for instance when they answer a question).
• They may overreact to change in routines, for instance becoming distressed if a dinner table layout is changed.
• The rigid thinking patterns of ASD also reveal themselves in a distinct preference for literal forms of speech e.g. failing to detect flexible uses of language such as irony.

Question 10

2. Repetitive behaviours; RESTRICTED AND FIXATED INTERESTS

Answer 10

• A common feature of ASD is an intense preoccupation with a very narrow interest (e.g. a particular toy or object, to the total exclusion of others), or with a topic (e.g. colours numbers or symbols).

Question 11

2. Repetitive behaviours; UNUSUAL REACTIONS TO SENSORY INPUT

Answer 11

• Many people with ASD are preoccupied with touch, usually aversively (e.g. children intensely dislike having their hair brushed).
• They may have an obsessive interest in the movements of objects, such as opening and closing, or spinning.
• They will look at objects very closely at objects for long periods of time but for no apparent.
• They become distressed by stimulus they’re not used to and yet appear completely indifferent to pain (their own and others).