Chapter 7: Autism Flashcards
What is autism?
Neurodevelopmental condition that includes social communication and interaction deficits as well as repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.
The brain-based differences of autism lead to challenges with…
Establishing and keeping different types of relationships (e.g., friendships and acquaintances)
Unexpected, repetitive behaviors and interests
An unconventional thinking style
Atypical social communication and interaction
What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity, or the way their brains are different, is an inextricable part of who they are as human beings.
Neurodiversity is also fundamentally inclusion and advocacy oriented, echoing the disability rights movement maxim, “Nothing about us, without us.”
The neurodiversity movement does not fully represent the perspectives of all autism-related stakeholders.
Among the five criteria for a diagnosis of ASD, two are symptom-specific and represent the two-domain structure introduced in the DSM-5 for the essential features of autism. What are they?
Deficits in social communication and social interaction
Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, which now include sensory processing differences.
What are social interaction deficits?
Include difficulty making and keeping friends or a satisfying, helpful social network.
What is social emotional reciprocity?
Social emotional reciprocity is one type of social interaction deficit. Challenges can include difficulties with sharing, participating in the back and forth of conversational exchange, and joint attention.
Joint attention is when two individuals use gestures or eye gaze to share focus on the same object or event.
What are social communication differences?
Social communication differences commonly include echolalia, one example of unconventional verbal behavior in which the individual repeats words and phrases heard from digital sources or people in their lives. In autism, echolalia may or may not have communicative meaning.
Autism is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, including:
Deficits in social reciprocity (the ability to engage in social interactions)
Nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction
Skills developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships
What is the etiology of autism?
Partially explained by a genetic interaction with environmental factors that contribute to the development of neurobiological differences.
These neurobiological differences underlie the social interaction and repetitive behavior deficits that are central to autism.
Describe improvement in autism.
The severity of autism symptoms does not necessarily correlate with adaptive functioning. Furthermore, improvement in one area is not necessarily associated with improvement in another area. Szatmari and colleagues found that, by age 6, 20% of children showed improvements in adaptive functioning and that children with even severe and stable autism features can make notable progress.
What are the outcomes of autism?
Outcomes are still generally described as poor.
Childhood language and intelligence are the strongest predictors of later outcome.
Generally, adulthood for individuals on the autism spectrum is marked by:
- Unemployment
- An ongoing requirement for moderate to high levels of support and assistance
- Inadequate daily activity
- Partially or fully supported living, often at home with parents
- Impoverished social participation.
What are the gender differences in autism?
Consistently, males outnumber females on the autism spectrum and yield a mean male to female ratio of 4:1.
Partially because of differences in study methodology, the gender ratio for autism varies depending on the region of study.
How does autism effect occupational performance?
Autism affects performance across all occupational domains. Children with higher autism severity participate significantly less frequently in parent-child household activities, routine errands, neighborhood-social activities, and faith-based activities.
What is the link between autism and intellectual disability?
Approximately 31% of individuals on the autism spectrum also meet the criteria for intellectual disability. Individuals are characterized as having an intellectual disability when their IQ is 70 or lower.
For those on the autism spectrum, a higher severity of intellectual disability is associated with poorer outcomes and poorer independent living skills.
Children on the autism spectrum with little to no spoken language are particularly at risk for a diagnosis of intellectual disability.
How does autism affect executive function?
Executive function deficits vary across the autism spectrum. OTPs can use occupational performance analysis to identify executive function strengths and difficulties in a uniquely occupation-centered and individualized way.
As individuals on the autism spectrum age, they often experience a widening gap between their executive function abilities and the complex demands of daily life. OTPs can use their expertise in occupation to design interventions that promote independent participation in daily life, especially during the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Executive function difficulties contribute significantly to problems with adaptive skills, including social participation and independence in daily life.
