The Little Book of The Autism Spectrum

Dr Samantha Todd, Ian Gilbert

• Publisher: Independent Thinking Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781781350898
• eBook ISBN: 9781781350980
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

This book will allow anyone who lives or works with children with Autism to see the world as they do, and develop strategies for managing and understanding it effectively. It peers through the "Autism lens", allowing us to effect change in terms of the way we deal with autism as a society and in education. It delivers evidence-based support and strategies that enable us to develop young people's abilities to interact with the social world, removing much of the anxiety that often accompanies it.

Part One

Understanding the Autism Spectrum

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Autism Spectrum

The amount of information available about autism can be overwhelming and it can be hard to know where to begin. This section provides a brief overview of the condition.

What is autism?

What is the spectrum of autism?

What causes autism?

How many people have autism?

What helps?

What is autism?

Autism is often described as a developmental disability. This means that it is usually first noticed during childhood. People with autism have a disability in terms of the way they understand and interact with other people, and this creates challenges when living in a very social world. However, some people do not think of autism as a disability, but simply as a different way of processing information and understanding the world.

Autism is a lifelong condition. This means that someone with an autism diagnosis will always have the condition, but it doesn’t mean they will always be the same. All children change, learn, and develop, so children with autism will also change – they won’t be the same at 15 or 40 as they were at 3. However, it is important to keep in mind that they will experience ongoing challenges with their social interactions, communication, and behaviour.

What is the spectrum of autism?

Throughout this book I use the term ‘autism’ as shorthand for the whole autism spectrum. Autism spectrum diagnoses (also known as autistic spectrum disorders or autistic spectrum conditions) are given to a broad range of children who display significant difficulties in these two areas:

1. Social interaction and communication
2. Social imagination, along with restricted, repetitive behaviour and interests

Wing’s triad of impairment

Dr Lorna Wing is a psychiatric consultant for the National Autistic Society, the parent of a child with autism, and high profile researcher and writer regarding the condition. In the 1970s she was instrumental in identifying the core difficulties of autism. She described three key ‘impairments’ shared by all children who have an autism spectrum condition: impairments in social interaction, social communication, and social imagination, including restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests. This is called the ‘triad of impairment’ or ‘Wing’s triad’ (Wing and Gould, 1979).

The latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V; APA, 2013) reduces the triad to two.

The spectrum of autism has broadened considerably over time. Going back a half century, autism used to refer only to children who seemed to be ‘in their own world’. These children show highly repetitive behaviours and routines, with very little interest in other people. This is sometimes referred to as ‘childhood autism’ or ‘Kanner’s autism’, after the psychiatrist who first described the condition in 1943. These children often have severe delays in language and very unusual speech, or no speech at all.

As the 20th century went on, the spectrum of autism started to widen. In 1944, the Viennese paediatrician Hans Asperger provided the first description of boys with a particular style of thinking and interacting. He described young people with average or above average intellectual ability, and no delay in language, but who showed specific difficulties in social interaction and imagination. The term ‘Asperger syndrome’ was coined to describe this condition.

So, whilst one person within the autism spectrum may have no spoken language and very little interest in other people, another person within the spectrum may have well-developed language and be keen to make friends, but struggles to do so effectively. What the two individuals share are significant difficulties in their social interaction, communication, and imagination. Both will also have restricted and repetitive interests and behaviour.

The number of terms used to describe children on the autism spectrum can cause confusion. It is important to remember that they are all part of the same ‘family’ of diagnoses, with the same essential difficulties but with differences in terms of intellectual ability and language development.

Diagnostic terms

DSM-V (APA, 2013) uses the term ‘autism spectrum disorder’ to include everyone on the autism spectrum. This sits alongside a description of how much the condition affects the individual and each person’s individual profile of difficulties.

Children and young people who have already been diagnosed, or are diagnosed using different criteria, may receive one of these alternative diagnoses, all of which fall within the autism spectrum:

Childhood autism: Language development is delayed. Difficulties are usually noticed early, often before the age of 3. There may be an additional learning disability but not necessarily.

Asperger syndrome: Children and young people who receive this diagnosis typically have had no delay in their language development and should have at least average intellectual ability.

Atypical autism or pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified: This diagnosis may be given when children and young people show some or most of the features of autism but do not exactly meet the full criteria. It is important to remember that these are still autism spectrum diagnoses and difficulties may be severe.

High functioning autism: This term is sometimes used for children and young people whose language development is delayed but who have at least average intellectual ability. There is an ongoing debate about whether Asperger syndrome and high functioning autism are two separate conditions or not. One argument is that high functioning autism is more likely to be picked up before the child starts school, whereas Asperger syndrome may not be noticed until school age. Does it make any difference in real life which diagnosis is made? Approaches to support the young person are broadly the same. However, responses by wider society to the two terms can be very different, with suggestions that Asperger syndrome carries less social stigma.

Is there such as thing as mild or severe autism?

There is a common misconception that people with childhood autism are at the ‘severe’ ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Preface
• Part One: Understanding the Autism Spectrum
• Part Two: Developing Skills and Promoting Well-Being in Children and Young People with Autism
• Part Three: Working with Behaviour
• Final Remarks
• Glossary
• References
• Further Reading and Resources
• Index
• Copyright
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