L17: Autism Flashcards
DSM 5 Criteria for ASD
A) persistent deficits in 3 areas of social communication and interaction
- 2 types of restrictive, repetitive behaviors
- Symptoms must be present in early developmental periods
- Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment
- Symptoms are not better explained by an intellectual disability or global development delay
A) Deficits in social communication & interaction across multiple contexts
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.
B) Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities
- Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech
- Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, ritualized patterns of behavior
- Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus
- Hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment
Clinicians can accurately diagnose ASD beginning around _______ old
18-24 months
Median age of ASD diagnosis is ________ old.
4 years old
Children from low-income families, those with minoritized identities, and those who live in rural areas are diagnosed ______later on average.
1-5 years
Waitlists for an evaluation are ____ years long as well, which makes this an even bigger problem
2+ years
Asperger’s
Falls under ASD.
Some people see it as a subtype, while now it is not separate from ASD
_____ are good at having ASD w/o being noticed bc they’re good at masking it.
Females are good at having ASD w/o being noticed bc they’re good at _____ it.
ASD is 4x more likely in _____.
Males are ____ times more likely to have ASD.
ASD can co-occur with what?
intellectual disability, speech-language impairment, additional mental health disorders (anxiety, depression, OCD)
70% ppl with ASD have experienced ____ by college age.
SA is experienced by 70% of people with ASD by ____ age.
Clinical interventions with ASD often focus on ____
social skills are focused on in clinical interventions with ASD
Why is social communication important?
Expressing wants and needs Information transfer Social closeness Social etiquette Prevents challenging or even dangerous behaviors
Social Communication
- Social thinking
- Social scripts
- Social skills groups
Social Thinking
Making sense of others’ thoughts, feelings, intentions in context
Theory of mind
Perspective-taking
Joint attention
Social Scripts
How an interaction is “supposed to go”.
ex. Not understanding that you need to be charming and offer to pay when having restaurant date.
Social Skills Groups
Direction instruction, role-playing
- Skill or performance deficit?
- Contextualize it
- Teach what kids actually do socially
What to use when someone is nonverbal?
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
What is PECS?
Picture Exchange Communication System:
- a board with pictures and words
ABA: Applied Behavior Analysis
Operant conditioning that uses reinforcement to teach socially significant behaviors
ABA as a scientific field
analyzing behaviors (think about the antecedents and consequences) and trying to understand their function - why are they engaging in this behavior? `
ABA therapy (in regard to autism)
helps teach skills and lessen problematic behaviors like hurting oneself
What causes ASD?
- 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.
Risk factors for ASD
- 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)
Autistic individuals are 3-6x more likely to be _____ than the general population
Transgender
Autistic people are 8x more likely to ID as ____ and other sexuality than their non-autistic peers
asexual
