L17: Autism

Question 1

DSM 5 Criteria for ASD

Answer 1

A) persistent deficits in 3 areas of social communication and interaction

2. 2 types of restrictive, repetitive behaviors
3. Symptoms must be present in early developmental periods
4. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment
5. Symptoms are not better explained by an intellectual disability or global development delay

Question 2

A) Deficits in social communication & interaction across multiple contexts

Answer 2

A. Social-emotional reciprocity: odd social approach, struggle w/ conversation, cannot share oneself, failure to respond to social interactions.

B. Nonverbal communication behaviors: weird eye contact and body language, monotone expression, nonverbal communication, poorly integrated verbal/nonverbal.

C. Developing maintaining/understanding relationships: difficulties adjusting behavior to various social contexts, difficulties in making friends, lack of interest in peers.

Question 3

B) Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities

Answer 3

1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech
2. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, ritualized patterns of behavior
3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus
4. Hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment

Question 4

Clinicians can accurately diagnose ASD beginning around _______ old

Answer 4

18-24 months

Question 5

Median age of ASD diagnosis is ________ old.

Answer 5

4 years old

Question 6

Children from low-income families, those with minoritized identities, and those who live in rural areas are diagnosed ______later on average.

Answer 6

1-5 years

Question 7

Waitlists for an evaluation are ____ years long as well, which makes this an even bigger problem

Answer 7

2+ years

Question 8

Asperger’s

Answer 8

Falls under ASD.

Some people see it as a subtype, while now it is not separate from ASD

Question 9

_____ are good at having ASD w/o being noticed bc they’re good at masking it.

Answer 9

Females are good at having ASD w/o being noticed bc they’re good at _____ it.

Question 10

ASD is 4x more likely in _____.

Answer 10

Males are ____ times more likely to have ASD.

Question 11

ASD can co-occur with what?

Answer 11

intellectual disability, speech-language impairment, additional mental health disorders (anxiety, depression, OCD)

Question 12

70% ppl with ASD have experienced ____ by college age.

Answer 12

SA is experienced by 70% of people with ASD by ____ age.

Question 13

Clinical interventions with ASD often focus on ____

Answer 13

social skills are focused on in clinical interventions with ASD

Question 14

Why is social communication important?

Answer 14

Expressing wants and needs
Information transfer
Social closeness
Social etiquette
Prevents challenging or even dangerous behaviors

Question 15

Social Communication

Answer 15

1. Social thinking
2. Social scripts
3. Social skills groups

Question 16

Social Thinking

Answer 16

Making sense of others’ thoughts, feelings, intentions in context

Theory of mind

Perspective-taking

Joint attention

Question 17

Social Scripts

Answer 17

How an interaction is “supposed to go”.

ex. Not understanding that you need to be charming and offer to pay when having restaurant date.

Question 18

Social Skills Groups

Answer 18

Direction instruction, role-playing

• Skill or performance deficit?
• Contextualize it
• Teach what kids actually do socially

Question 19

What to use when someone is nonverbal?

Answer 19

AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication)

• Low tech: symbols/pictograms, communication boards
• Mid-tech: buttons, GoTalk board
• High-tech: tablets, devices, device that use eye tracking or other movements

Question 20

What is PECS?

Answer 20

Picture Exchange Communication System:

• a board with pictures and words

Question 21

ABA: Applied Behavior Analysis

Answer 21

Operant conditioning that uses reinforcement to teach socially significant behaviors

Question 22

ABA as a scientific field

Answer 22

analyzing behaviors (think about the antecedents and consequences) and trying to understand their function - why are they engaging in this behavior?
`

Question 23

ABA therapy (in regard to autism)

Answer 23

helps teach skills and lessen problematic behaviors like hurting oneself

Question 24

What causes ASD?

Answer 24

• Genetics (cannot be developed later)
• 10% cases relate to Down’s Syndrome and Fragile X Syndrome
• Associated with epilepsy
  
  • -> Epilepsy = having seizures
• Increase brain volume in infancy
  
  • -> Increased size of amygdala.

Question 25

Risk factors for ASD

Answer 25

• Old parental age (usually dads)
• Premature birth, low birthweight
• Family history
• Medication valpoic acid (treats epilepsy); SSRIs hypothesized risk
• Very short or long inter-pregnancy interval ( <12 or >84 months)

Question 26

Autistic individuals are 3-6x more likely to be _____ than the general population

Answer 26

Transgender

Question 27

Autistic people are 8x more likely to ID as ____ and other sexuality than their non-autistic peers

Answer 27

asexual