Developmental Differences

Question 1

What are developmental differences?

Answer 1

-Atypical development that tends to be identified within childhood
-Sticks with them for life normally, but could be remitted in adulthood
-Includes atypical cognitive, social, behavioural, language or motor development
-Boyle et al. (2011) found that 1:10 children tend to have atypical development

Question 2

Genetic influence on developmental disorders

Answer 2

-Based on genetics, such as inheritance or mutations
-Can be known genetic basis
-Includes down’s syndrome, fragile x, rett’s syndrome, turner syndrome, williams syndrome
-Can be putative genetic basic
-Includes autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, language disorder

Question 3

Environmental influence on developmental disorders

Answer 3

-Based on environmental factors
-Such as access to therapy, home environments, nutrition and diet
-Includes cerebral palsy

Question 4

How can diagnosis occur for developmental differences?

Answer 4

-Child tends to be taken to GP is parents are worried
-GP refers them to specialist services
-Assessments will be completed by paediatricians and clinical psychologists
-They look into history of difficulty and complete standardised assessments, observations and questionnaires that will be completed by parents/teachers

Question 5

What are the characteristics of autism?

Answer 5

-Leo Kanner (1943) and Hans Asperger (1944) first described this disorder
-Marked by differences in social interaction, communication, restricted interests and repetitive behaviours

Question 6

State the statistics of autism

Answer 6

-1 in 44 children in the USA have autism (CDC, 2018)
-Present in people with high IQ as well as people with low IQ
-More common in boys than girls
-Nearly 40% of people with autism become nonverbal

Question 7

Describe the Theory of Mind hypothesis as a theory of autism

Answer 7

-Baron-Cohen et al., (1985)
-Children completed an unexpected transfer test
-Children with autism performed worse than verbal and non-verbal ability matched groups, compared with those with downs syndrome and children with typical development
-They don’t have the ability to understand others minds

Question 8

Describe the Theory of Weak ‘Central Coherence’ as a theory of autism

Answer 8

-Frith (1989)
-Proposed to help account for non-social differences and perceptual strengths that can be seen in someone with autism
-Individuals who had autism were faster and more accurate on embedded figures task and block design task

Question 9

Describe the characteristics of ADHD

Answer 9

-First recognised in early 1900’s as ‘hyperkinetic disorder’ and renamed ADHD in 1987
-Found by differences in attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity
-Attention - unresponsive but distractible
-Hyperactivity - constantly fidgeting and finding it impossible to sit still
-Impulsivity - struggle to wait in queues and wait for their turn in games

Question 10

State the statistics of ADHD

Answer 10

-Occurs in 8 in 100 people (Faraone et al, 2003)
-More common in boys than girls
-High heritability estimates, Saviouk et al. (2011) found around 75%
-Can be affected by environmental factors such as diet (McCann et al, 2007)

Question 11

Describe the Primary differences in executive functioning theory as a theory of ADHD

Answer 11

-Barkley, 1997
-Things such as reflective thinking, organisation, emotional control, planning

Question 12

Describe the Primary differences in reward and motivation theory as a theory of ADHD

Answer 12

-Sonuga-Barke, 2005
-Difficulty with delayed gratification e.g. knowing you need to study for an exam but putting it off as you don’t get a reward yet

Question 13

Describe the characteristics and statistics of language disorder

Answer 13

-Found in around 7 in 100 people
-More common in boys than girls
-Language areas within the brain may be implicated in disorders e.g. broca’s area and wernicke’s area

Question 14

What is developmental dyslexia?

Answer 14

-Marked by difficulty within reading and spelling that can’t be explained by poor ability
-For example, unable to identify syllables in a word, can’t identify rhyming words, struggle to distinguish between sounds of letters
-Affected by both genetic and environmental factors
-Much more common in non-transparent languages such as english rather than transparent languages like italian and japanese

Question 15

Describe the medial model of disability

Answer 15

-Disabled = less able to do things such as have potential, make meaningful relationships etc.
-Due to bad luck, interpreted as impairment
-Problem is with the individual, and disability is caused by something within the person

Question 16

Describe the social model of disability

Answer 16

-Person is disabled by society
-Disability is social construct created by barriers, which can be eliminated
-These attitudes and physical barriers within society prevent them from achieving their potential
-Disabled barriers include prejudice, restricted access, exclusion
-Model was developed by disabled people
-Prevents discrimination and empowers people to find solutions
-Society should be planned to provide accessibility, independence and opportunity