Developmental disorders Flashcards
What is the definition of ‘developmental disorders’?
A group of conditions with onset in the developmental period
What conditions come under Autism Spectrum Disorders?
- autism
- asperger’s syndrome
- childhood disintegrative disorder
- pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
What are the characteristics of ASD?
- deficits in social communication, interaction, and understanding what others are thinking (ToM)
- restricted repetitive behaviours, interests and activities (RRBs)
What disorder is it if no RRBs are present?
Social communication disorder
When do autistic symptoms appear?
- symptoms can appear at any age
- normally detected after 2 y/o –> must show that interaction/communication is affected but children don’t tend to talk until after 2 y/o
- often show symptoms before 2 but it isn’t clear that it is autism until they start talking
What behaviours might someone with autism typically produce?
- routines
- sensory issues
- special interests
- difficulty understanding and relating to others
- difficulty reading facial expressions
- difficulty understanding common phrases/jokes/sarcasm
What is Asperger’s syndrome (AS)?
- has the same criteria for autism but there is no cognitive/language delay (normal language and intelligence)
Language delay = not using single words by 2 y/o and/or phrase speech by 3 y/o
- usually clumsy
- unusual use of language
Is Asperger’s syndrome more common in males or females?
More common in males
When do symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome appear?
Symptoms usually aren’t recognised before 3 y/o
What symptoms did Wing (1981) associate with Asperger’s syndrome?
- content of speech is abnormal
- little facial expression
- monotonous
- limited gestures
- can’t comprehend others’ expressions/gestures
- lack understanding and the ability to follow rules that govern social behaviour
- lack empathy
- repetitive behaviour
- resistant to change
- clumsy
- tend to have excellent rote memory
What are Baron-Cohen’s theories of autism?
- Deficit in ToM (deficit in ‘mindreading’)
- Empathising/systemising theory
What is the Empathising/systemising theory?
States that sufferers of autism have…
- weak central coherence
- executive dysfunction
What does it mean if a person has a weak central coherence?
- they see detail at the expense of the whole
- they are less susceptible to illusions that typically-developed people can see
What does it mean if a person has executive dysfunction?
- difficulties planning and organising
- can’t control/plan certain behaviours that typically-developed people can
How do genetics influence autism?
The strongest evidence for autism come from twin and behavioural genetic family studies
High concordance rates between MZ twins and lower between DZ twins suggests that there is a strong genetic influence
What concordance rates between MZ and DZ twins have researchers found for autism?
Bailey et al. (1995) – MZ = 60% vs. DZ = 0%
Steffenberg et al. (2006) – MZ = 91% vs. DZ = 0%
Rosenberg et al. (2009) – MZ = 86% vs. DZ = 31%
Explain the autism continuum.
Autism and Asperger’s syndrome lie on a continuum of social-communication disability, with AS as the bridge between autism and normality
What is the prevalence of autism in the population, according to Baird et al. (2006)?
Baird et al. (2006) - 100/10,000
Is autism more common in males or females?
More males have Asperger’s/high-functioning autism
For moderate autism, what is the male:female ratio?
Fombonne (1999) - 4:1 overall, but varies depending on the presence/absence of ID
For severe autism, what is the male:female ratio?
50:50
For mild autism, what is the male:female ratio?
10:1
What could be the causes of the increase in the prevalence of autism in recent years?
- broadening of the concept of autism
- expansion of the diagnostic criteria
- development of services
- improved awareness of the condition
Which scales/questionnaires/interviews/tests can we use to measure autism?
- Autism Diagnostic Interview
- Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
- Childhood Autism Rating Scale
- Autism Spectrum Quotient
Who created the Autism Diagnostic Interview and what does it involve?
Le Couteur et al. (1989)
- score on certain criteria
What does the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule involve?
- score on certain criteria
- observe the person’s behaviour
What is a criticism of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule?
Time consuming - you must spend enough time with the child to observe all of their behaviours
Who created the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and what does it involve?
Schopler, Reichler and Renner (1986)
- the parent/caregiver fills out the scale from their perceptions of their child’s behaviour
What a criticism of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale?
X can be quite brief
X not self-administered
Who created the Autism Spectrum Quotient and what does it involve?
Baron-Cohen et al. (2001)
- 50 questions
- 10 questions assess 5 skills
Which skills are assessed on the Autism Spectrum Quotient and what results do people with ASD normally obtain?
- Social skills – LOW
- Attention switching – LOW
- Attention to detail – HIGH
- Communication – LOW
- Imagination – LOW
What are some pros of the Autism Spectrum Quotient?
- short (not time consuming)
- easy to use
- easy to score
Which 2 aspects of communication are deficient in autism?
- conversational ability
- using mental state terms in speech (understanding that others have different beliefs to us)
What is ‘conversational ability’?
The ability to expand, initiate and maintain conversation
Which researcher/s looked at whether teaching autistic children to pass tasks that assessed their mental state improved the children’s communication?
Hadwin, Baron-Cohen, Howlin and Hill (1997)
What did Hadwin, Baron-Cohen, Howlin and Hill (1997) do in their study?
Children with autism were taught how to pass tasks that assessed emotional and belief understanding
- they were trained to have ToM abilities
What did Hadwin, Baron-Cohen, Howlin and Hill (1997) find in their study?
There was no improvement on either measure of communication (emotional understanding/belief understanding) after training
Basic logic tasks sometimes don’t require ToM abilities - what might they require instead?
Basic logic tasks sometimes don’t require ToM abilities, just the ability to be logical
How did Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1985) teach the Sally-Ann task to children with autism?
Children with autism tried to solve the task –> if they were wrong, the researcher would give them the correct answer and explain why they were wrong
- TD children pass the Sally-Ann task at 4-5 y/o
How did Fombonne (2002) define Childhood Disintegrative disorder?
Fombonne (2002) – Childhood Disintegrative disorder is a rare pervasive developmental disorder affecting 1.7/100,000 children
When does Childhood Disintegrative disorder develop?
The child has at least 2 years of normal development, followed by a loss of skills across multiple domains - language - social - cognitive - adaptive - play - motor - self-help skills APA (2000)
How does Childhood Disintegrative disorder develop?
APA (2002) - onset (i.e. the loss of skills) may be gradual or sudden
What name is sometimes given to Childhood Disintegrative disorder?
Childhood Disintegrative disorder is now called REGRESSIVE AUTISM because it is based on regression in skills
What is Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified?
- a severe and pervasive impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction
- impairment in non-verbal/verbal communication skills
- stereotyped behaviour, interests and activities