Individual Differences In Autism

10 Key excerpts on "Individual Differences In Autism"

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  Perspectives on Individual Differences Affecting Therapeutic Change in Communication Disorders

  • Amy L. Weiss(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  7Individual Differences in Intervention Response in Children and Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders

  Lynne E. Hewitt

  Beyond Labels: Selecting Appropriate Interventions for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders

  Understanding of the particular challenges faced by individuals with autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has come a long way in the past 20 years. Individual differences are a hallmark of these disorders, and thus considering unique characteristics of each individual is always a primary concern when planning for support of people on the spectrum. Autism is diagnosed in terms of three core characteristics: communicative impairment, social impairment, and a restricted repertoire of interests and activities (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). These characteristics can apply to a highly verbal but pragmatically challenged individual with a strong fascination for Disney movies, which he discusses with anyone who will listen. They can equally well be applied to a child with quite different behavioral and cognitive characteristics. Thus, another child diagnosed with ASD might be nonverbal and socially passive, having a primary interest in flicking light switches on and off and opening and shutting doors. It is evident to any clinician that a child who is highly verbal but pragmatically challenged has needs that are completely different from those of a nonverbal child. These two examples show that the core aspects of autism can be manifested in widely diverse ways, a diversity that makes it impossible to base intervention planning solely on the diagnosis.

  The diversity in manifestation of autism has led over the years to a preference among many clinicians and researchers for the term “autism spectrum disorder” to show that a wide range of manifestations can be expected. One might argue that use of the term ASD itself is a way to refocus on individual characteristics, because it de-emphasizes the traditional discrete diagnostic categories such as autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, and Asperger syndrome. The term ASD has become conventional usage, despite the fact that it has yet to appear in any official diagnostic publication such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

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  Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders Sourcebook, 4th

  • Angela Williams(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Omnigraphics

    (Publisher)

  Part One Overview of Autism Spectrum Disorder 3 Chapter 1 What Are Autism Spectrum Disorder and Autistic Disorder? What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder? Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a group of complex neu -rodevelopment disorders characterized by repetitive and characteristic patterns of behavior and difficulties with social communication and interaction. The symptoms are present from early childhood and affect daily functioning. The term “spectrum” refers to the wide range of symptoms, skills, and levels of disability in functioning that can occur in people with ASD. Some children and adults with ASD are fully able to perform all activities of daily living while others require substantial support to perform basic activities. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 ) includes Asperger syndrome (AS), childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), and pervasive developmental disor -ders not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) as part of ASD rather than as separate disorders. A diagnosis of ASD includes an assessment of intellectual disability and language impairment. This chapter includes text excerpted from “Autism Spectrum Disorder Fact Sheet,” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), October 10, 2018. 4 Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders Sourcebook, 4th Ed. ASD occurs in every racial and ethnic group, and across all socio-economic levels. However, boys are significantly more likely to develop ASD than girls. An analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 68 children has ASD. What Are Some Common Signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder? Even as infants, children with ASD may seem different, especially when compared to other children their own age. They may become overly focused on certain objects, rarely make eye contact, and fail to engage in typical babbling with their parents.

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  Autism Spectrum Disorders from Theory to Practice

  Assessment and Intervention Tools Across the Lifespan

  • Belinda Daughrity, Ashley Wiley Johnson(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Summary 13 SUMMARY ASD is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that centers around social communi- cation challenges and includes the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors. Causes of autism include genetic and environmental factors, although the complete cause remains unknown. The DSM-IV had three diagnostic domains required to meet diagnostic criteria for diagnosis: restricted and/or repetitive behaviors, communica- tion, and social interaction challenges. The DSM-V reduced the diagnostic criteria to two domains and collapsed the domains of communication and social interaction to form the criteria of social communication. Current views support the idea of several disorders classified as an autism spectrum rather than former separate diagnostic categories such as PDD-NOS and Asperger’s. Optimal treatment of ASD includes a collaborative approach between several disciplines with respective expertise. Treatment of ASD should focus on promoting communication and independence. The neurodi- versity movement offers a perspective that includes more acceptance of neurological variance. The voices of individuals with autism should be included in their own care. This can be accomplished in part by valuing first-hand accounts, centering the scholarship of researchers with autism, and reconceptualizing the ideas of autism to prioritize strengths of individuals, rather than deficits. 14 Chapter 1 Historical Perspectives of Autism Spectrum Disorder REFLECTIONS ALONG THE PATH I began working with children with disabilities in the late 1970s/early 1980s. We were just starting to work with severely delayed children, who had limited services and support. I was very involved in Child Find efforts, because at the time, school- aged children with disabilities were not given an opportunity to attend public school programs. That changed in the late 1970s with the passage of PL 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975).

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  Group Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

  A Focus on Social Competency and Social Skills

  • Albert Cotugno(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Jessica Kingsley Publishers

    (Publisher)

  By definition, all AD in-dividuals would be considered appropriate for this approach given the absence of language or communication deficits, but the presence of impair-ments in social interaction with restricted, stereotypic, and repetitive 25 DEFINITIONS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASD) AND PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS (PDD) thoughts or behaviors. Individuals with AuD would be included only if they have adequate communication skills and function at a high level, typically characterizing these AuD individuals as HFA. To best use this group-focused approach, basic functional language and communication skills are necessary and considered in the group placement process. While there is general consensus around the definition of AuD, there is more confusion and controversy around other ASD, such as AD and PDD-NOS, as well as the grey areas where the PDD overlap. For example, several definitions have been developed and used by different researchers in the study of AD. Volkmar et al . (2004) identified at least five different defini-tions for AD currently in use. Nevertheless, the most widely used criteria continue to be the DSM IV and International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD-10) (World Health Organization 1993). However, since multiple definitions have remained in use, this confusion and controversy remains centered upon the most appropriate diagnostic criteria and where these criteria overlap and intersect with AuD. Most importantly, this in turn has clouded research attempts and outcomes. 26 GROUP INTERVENTIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS Chapter 3 Historical Background for ASD Early Developments Early in the twentieth century, much work in the psychiatric and psychologi-cal worlds focused on understanding and refining diagnostic and nomencla-ture systems. Most of this work was directed toward adults with little attention paid to children.

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  Autism Spectrum Disorders

  Psychological Theory and Research

  • Dermot Bowler(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  There is much we do not under-stand about how psychological development comes about, and what mecha-nisms underlie particular patterns of overt behaviour. In the current state of knowledge, it is perhaps premature to leap from the patterning of behav-ioural trajectories to underlying processes to the consequences of intervention. CONCLUSION The concept of ASD as a set of different developmental trajectories that com-promise an individual’s interpersonal relations and tend to produce behaviour that is rigid and repetitive has evolved considerably over the last five decades. It is now accepted that there is a spectrum of conditions, the most commonly occurring of which are (in DSM terminology), autistic disorder, Asperger dis-order and PDD-NOS. Although individuals can readily be identified who fit the criteria for each of these conditions, the boundaries between the categories are not always clear, and assigning a particular individual to one or other cat-egory is often a matter of judgment, which like all human judgment is prone to error. Nevertheless, we can provisionally conclude that there exists in nature a group of individuals whose development differs from the typical trajectory in that they experience particular kinds of difficulties in relating to and under-standing other people and who have impoverished imagination and a behav-ioural repertoire that tends to be repetitive and stereotyped in nature. The trajectory may or may not be accompanied by global intellectual impairment, which can range from mild to profound. The combination of social and cog-nitive impairment may inhibit the development of verbal communication, but even in non-intellectually disabled individuals, language and communication are marked by particular characteristics. Thus we have a basis for the work that will be described in the rest of this book; we have a natural phenomenon that we can attempt to explain. IDENTIFYING AUTISM 25

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  Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders

  A Critical Analysis

  • Johnny L. Matson, Noha F. Minshawi(Authors)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Elsevier Science

    (Publisher)

  Because of the high rates of comorbidity between autism and ID, Rutter believed any definition of autism must take into account intellectual functioning and developmental level. Thus, Rutter cautioned that developmental level was vital to understanding autism. He stated that autism could not be diagnosed solely on the presence of social and language impairments. Rutter gave the example of a 4-year-old child with a mental age (the measure of intelligence used at the History and Development of Autism Spectrum Disorders 5 time, as opposed to IQ, which is used today) of 6 months. Autism could only be diagnosed in this hypothetical child if the social and language deficits exhibited were abnormal for the child’s mental age and showed the “special features characteristic of autism” (Rutter, 1978a, p. 144). Rutter divided the “special features characteristic of autism” into three broad behavioral groupings. These categories of behaviors were: impaired social relations, delayed and/or abnormal language development, and insistence on sameness (Rutter, 1978b). The social deficits noted by Rutter included lack of attachment and bonding during infancy, failure to anticipate being picked up or held, and failure to seek comfort from parents. Lack of eye-to-eye gaze was also considered a prominent feature of the social deficits seen in autism. Rutter noted that the quality, as opposed to quantity, of eye-to-eye gaze was important in persons with autism. Children with autism do not use eye-to-eye gaze in the same discriminating fashion as typically developing children or avoid eye-to-eye gaze the same way highly anxious or shy children might (Rutter, 1978b). Rutter’s second category of behavior was abnormal language use. Children with autism often fail to show prelanguage skills such as waving and social imitation.

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  Autistic Spectrum Disorders in Children

  • Vidya Bhushan Gupta(Author)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  In 1978, the professional advisory board of the National Society for Children and Adults with Autism defined autism as a behavioral disorder that had the following characteristics: signs and symptoms prior to the age of 30 months, characteristic disturbances of developmental History, definition, and classification of autistic spectrum disorders 3 rate/sequence, characteristic disturbances of responsiveness to sensory stimuli, characteristic disturbances of speech, language, and cognitive capacities, and characteristic disturbances of relating to people, events, and objects (21). DSM-III followed through in resolving the confusion between autism and schizophrenia by including autism in the newly created category of pervasive developmental disorder (22). The term “pervasive” recognized that multiple domains of a child’s functioning are affected by autism—social, communicative, and cognitive. DSM- III had four categories under pervasive developmental disorders: infantile autism, childhood-onset autism, atypical autism, and residual autism. Infantile autism and childhood-onset autism were differentiated by the age-of-onset criterion of 30 months. Because the age-of-onset criterion is dependent on age of recognition and not on the true age of onset, few cases of childhood-onset pervasive developmental disorder were described (23), DSM-IIIR replaced the category of infantile autism with autistic disorder, removed the category of childhood-onset pervasive developmental disorder, and extended the age of onset to 36 months (24). It included all cases that did not meet the full criteria of autistic disorder in the category of pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified and eliminated the categories of atypical and residual autism.

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  AAP Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

  • AAP Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Robert G. Voigt, Robert G. Voigt(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • American Academy of Pediatrics

    (Publisher)

  4. Hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environ-ment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement). Specify current severity : Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior (see Box 19.2). C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life). D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level. Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder.

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  Disorders of Childhood

  Development and Psychopathology

  • Robin Parritz, Michael Troy(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  These descriptions of ASD emphasize “the deeply intertwined connections among social, cognitive, and language development” that are evident across all typically- and atypically developing children (Tager-Flusberg, 2014, p. 658). An especially compelling perspective on the devel-opment and experience of the self in children and ado-lescents with autism spectrum disorder is provided by Hobson et al. (2006). In their monograph, they describe the emotional, cognitive, and motivational factors that contribute to the development of self-awareness. This emerging awareness takes into account several aspects of self-experience and self-knowledge. First, there is a “relational” or “interpersonal” self, a self embedded in relationships. There is also a “reflective” self, dependent on the ability to understand one’s own perspective as person specific and different from others’ perspectives. In typical early development, the process of identifying with others supports the trajectory of self awareness. In that process, “there is both connectedness and differen-tiation” (p. 16). Thinking back to Meltzoff’s description of the basis of social cognition as the “like me” phenom-enon, it is clear that children with ASD are likely to display an atypical and/or compromised sense of self. Repetitive Behaviors and Fixated Interests Most children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit restricted, repetitive behaviors and/or stereotyped body movements such as rocking, hand flapping, and twirling (Leekam, Prior, & Uljarevic, 2011). These atyp-ical behaviors are sometimes observed in children with other disorders, but the collective pattern of behaviors is unique for those with ASD. Children with more severe ASD display more restricted and repetitive behaviors (Leekam et al., 2011).

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  The Autism Spectrum

  Scientific Foundations and Treatment

  • Mark Reber(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  On diagnostic measures of core features of autism, results have been mixed. Some studies report that children with AD exhibit a higher number of core symptoms at age 4–5 than those with AS, but the effect of IQ was not taken into consideration. Other studies were equivocal (Witwer and Lecavalier, 2008). Of significance in these studies is the finding that children with AS also had significant symptoms in the realm of verbal communication. The official diagnostic systems in use today are categorical: an individual either has or doesn’t have Asperger’s syndrome, autistic disorder or PDD-NOS. Yet, as the above discus- sion makes clear, Asperger’s syndrome as presently defined is a category of equivocal validity, difficult to separate from high-functioning autism. Indeed, there are clear continuities with autistic disorder, based on family/genetic history. Also, the differences between HFA and AS in early speech and cognitive development – differences that determine their diagnostic distinction – tend to diminish as children grow older, making the two conditions harder to distinguish. There is some evidence that individuals with Asperger’s syndrome have a differ- ent pattern of performance on IQ testing from those with autistic disorder, but other neuro- psychological, biological, and core symptomatic features are not significantly different in people with AS and HFA. Even clinical outcome – which one would expect to be better in a group of developmentally disabled individuals with higher IQ and better verbal abilities – appears to depend more on an individual’s intelligence and communication skills after school entry than it does on whether that individual meets diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s syndrome or autistic disorder. There are, moreover, inherent problems with the current diagnostic criteria used for Asperger’s syndrome in DSM-IV and ICD-10, because they fail to include verbal communication deficits that have been well described in the disorder.

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