Study Guide Flashcards
Who was Leo Kanner?
- The first child psychologist
- wrote a book on child psychology
What descriptions did Kanner give on what we now call autism?
- fundamental inability to engage with others
- failure to communicate to convey meaning
- obsessive desire for objects
- astounding vocabulary
- excellent memory & visual spatial skills
- strong interest in letters & numbers
- fearful of common things (egg beaters, tricycle, running water, etc.)
What are Kanner’s Urban Myths of ASD?
- higher rate of autism with higher SES–NOT TRUE
- No associated medical conditions -NOT TRUE(20 % of people who have autism develop seizures/epilepsy. 50% of children w/ ASD have ID)
- Normal intelligence-NOT TRUE
- associated with schizophrenia-NOT TRUE
- refrigerator mothers (term coined by kanner)
Which DSM first published the diagnosis of autism, and what year was it?
DSM III, 1980
Who was Hans Asperger, and when he studied 4 boys, how did he describe them?
- Physician from Vienna (1944)
- “little professors”
- lack of empathy
- limited friendships and interests
- clumsy movements
- good cognitive and language skills
- poor communication skills
- unusual interests that interfered with learning
- positive family history–especially fathers had similar symptoms
How did Asperger describe what is now considered High-funcitioning autism?
- clumsy movements
- limited friendships
- limited interests
- little professors with special talents
- socially awkward
Who made the distinction between childhood schizophrenia and ASD and when?
-Rutter & Jackson (1980)
What is the prevalence of autism?
- 1/88 children is diagnosed with Autism
- occurs in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups
- 5 times more common in males
(Book: autism: 2:1 boys to girls, asperger’s 5:1 boys to girls)
What are some possible explanations for the increase in prevalence of autism?
- there are several possible explanations
- a broader definition of ASD
- realization that ASD may co-occur with other disorders
- better diagnostic procedures
What are risk factors of ASD?
- Twin studies, if one is diagnosed with ASD, the other will be affected 36-95% of the time
- Occur more often in people who have genetic or chromosomal conditions
What are some causes of ASD?
- genetics
- multiple gene involvement
- maternal antibodies
- chromosomal abnormalities
- environmental causes
- neurological dysfunction
What is the definition of theory of mind?
The ability to make inferences about the beliefs and desires of others
What is normal theory of mind for ages 6-12 months?
- joint attention, including gaze and point following and alternation of gaze between person and object
- First words
What is normal theory of mind for ages 13-24 months?
- recognize intentionality in others as demonstrated in word use
- recognize that others have different desires from one’s own
- early pretend play
What is normal theory of mind for ages 30-36 months?
- begin to use mental state terms with truly mentalistic functions
- increasingly sophisticated pretend play
What is normal theory of mind for ages 37-48 months?
- increasing ability to understand how things look from another’s perspective
- begin to understand compliments
What is normal theory of mind for ages 49-60 months?
-consistently pass false belief and appearance reality tasks
What test is used to test theory of mind?
sally ann test
What is information processing?
how the brain attaches meaning to information
what are the requirements for information processing?
- attention
- sensory perception-
- visual-spatial processing
- becomes more complex because of time constraints, simultaneous processing demands (multi-tasking) or stress & anxiety
- shifting attention when multi tasking is a crucial skill
What is a hallmark deficit for information processing with children with autism?
inability to shift attention away from what they want to focus on
What have some neuroscientific studies found with children with autism?
- ASD is not a localized brain disorder
- ASD is a disorder involving multiple functioning networks
- There is under connectivity of the neural system for children with autism
What does fMRI stand for?
-Functional magnetic resonance imaging
What does the fMRI do?
uses a powerful magnetic field to measure and observe metabolic changes that take place in an “active” brain
What does an fMRI determine?
which part of the brain is working for speech, thought, movement, and sensation
The fMRI is the diagnostic method of choice for learning what?
how a normal, diseased, or an injured brain is working
What was the goal of studying autism through neuroscience? and what did they find in terms of autism?
- use brain imaging to distinguish between autism and other developmental disorders
- brain differences contribute to core deficits
- core deficits cause processing and learning differences
- not a syndrome of intellectual disability or mental retardation, however that difficulty can coexist with autism
- 40% of children with ASD don’t have intellectual disability
What were the neurobiological findings from using the MRI and fMRI?
- high peripheral levels of serotonin (regulates sleep, mood, and body temperature)
- high rates of seizure disorder
- persistent primitive reflexes
- increased head size and increased brain volume
- changes within central nervous system
- fusiform gyrus & faces (MRI studies ahve show that area of the brain responsible for recognizing faces may be less evolved than TD; for ppl with autism it may become specialized for recognizing THINGS)
- placental abnormalities
For children with autism, If there are problems in the prefrontal cortex what function will it impair?
-social thinking
For children with autism, If there are problems in the hypothalamus what function will it impair?
motor function
For children with autism, If there are problems in the amygdala what function will it impair?
social, emotional learning
For children with autism, If there are problems in the fusiform gyrus what function will it impair?
face recognition
For children with autism, If there are problems in the middle temporal gyrus what function will it impair?
recognition of facial expression
For children with autism, If there are problems in the pulvinarwhat function will it impair?
emotional relevance
what is the difference between the MRI vs. the fMRI? ** couldn’t find this, but need to know it!
.
What are the three psychological theories of autism?
- Theory of Mind
- Central Coherence
- Executive Function
What is theory of mind? (this definition is from the book, not lecture-the other one is from lecture)
-the ability to understand the mental states of others and apply this understanding to their actions. Theorists believe that individuals with ASD may lack abilities in this area, resulting in “mind blindness” or the inability to make sense of others behaviors
What is central coherence?
the ability to integrate information into a meaningful whole. Theorists believe individuals with ASD have weak central coherence in that they process information by tending to focus on the parts and lose sight of the whole.
What is executive function?
the ability to properly use a group of mental processes, including organizational and planning abilities, working memory, inhibition and impulse control, time management and prioritizing, and using new strategies. It is believed that individuals with ASD have deficits in executive functioning.
What areas of cognition are impacted by ASD?
- abstract thought
- central coherence
- executive functioning
- memory
- metacognition
What does memory involve?
storing and recall of information
what are the strengths and weaknesses a child with ASD has in terms of memory?
- strength: superior for rote information
- weakness: difficulty accessing short term & working memory
What does metacognition refer to?
the understanding of how one thinks/learns & the understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses?
How is the meta cognition of a child with ASD?
lack of self awareness & compromises their ability to generalize newly learned skills
What are the cognitive processes involved with language?
- attention (orientation & reaction)
- concept formation (encoding of information)
- management/executive function (cognitive strategies needed for a task; monitors feedback and outcomes to shift resources if needed)
- memory: (recall information previously learned)
- organization (organizing incoming sensory information)
- perception/discrimination: (identify stimuli based on relevant characteristics)
- problem-solving & transfer (generalization of learned material in solving similar but ‘novel’ problems)
What is social cognition?
higher mental process that allows individuals to think about themselves and perceive the thoughts of others.
this supports our ability to adjust our behavior to make inferences about the beliefs and desires of others
What 3 elements is communication defined through?
- sender
- receiver
- medium/message
What is language?
- it is rule governed
- it is symbolic and arbitrary
- it is cultural
What is speech?
the vocal production of language
What is social referencing?
chid looks at the adult to make sure they are watching
What is joint attention?
- emerges @ 9 months and well established @ 18 months
- child responding to other’s bid for joint attention
- child initiating joint attention
What age is the perlocutionary stage?
0-8 months
What age is the illocutionary stage?
8-12 months
What age is the locutionary stage?
12-18 months
What are some social behaviors occurring in the perlocutionary stage?
- cooing
- crying
- fussing
- laughing
- looking
- smiling
What kind of communication skills develop in the illocutionary stage? and what are they?
- INTENTIONAL communication skills
- gaze
- gestures/pointing
- vocalization
How many communicative acts per minute are occurring in the illocutionary stage?
2.5 communicative acts per minute
What two types of functions of communication develop in the illocutionary stage?
- protimperative
- protodeclarative
What are proto imperatives?
lay the basis for commands or requests
What are proto declaratives?
allow a child not to ask, but to share things, so they call the adults attention to show them something
**this lays the basis for conversation skills later on
During the locutionary stage what are TD child able to do?
-name where things are, what things are, and how they’re feeling
When are a TD child’s first words spoken?
during the locutionary stage
What is there a rapid increase of during the locutionary stage?
-spoken vocabulary
When are children able to comprehend words that are not typical in their routines?
during the locutionary stage
in video clip: understood “balance”
At 15 months, how many words does a child know?
3
At 18 months, how many words does a child know?
50-100 words (+/- 50)