What deficits are characterized by ASD?
Deficits in social communication and social interaction
Restricted repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities
What is Social pragmatic communication disorder?
- New diagnosis
- Difficulty only with social skills and language. Social pragmatics and understanding Verbal and non-verbal social communication skills
- This is diagnosed when a child does not have restricted or repetitive movements
What symptoms must you have to be diagnosed with ASD?
Persistent deficits with all three areas of social communication and interaction (reciprocity, nonverbal communication, developing and maintaining relationships), and at least 2/4 of the repetitive behaviors (repetitive motor movements, insistence of sameness, fixated interests, hyperactivity)
What are the positives in the change in autism definition from the DSM IV to DSM V
- More reliability in diagnosis of autism
- Less people will be diagnosed as being on the spectrum
- Well researched rationale for changes that are being made
- Individuals diagnosed in states with Asperger’s or PDD-NOS do not have recourse to public funds for autism anyway
- High specificity in diagnosis compared to DSM-IV
What are the negatives in the change in autism definition from the DSM IV to DSM V
- Disenfranchisement of people previously diagnosed with Asperger’s
- Not as much research on categorical differences between ASD and Asperger’s now
- Having Asperger’s or PDD-NOS diagnosis and not a diagnosis with ASD is far less stigmatizing
- Sensitivity is lower than DSM-IV
What did Mundy 2006, 2018 say about autism?
Created a developmental model to explain ASD that focuses on earliest social impairments viewing autism as emotional & motivational issue as well as a cognitive one. Initial difficulty begins because of lack of normal experiences leading to failure with dyadic interaction. Some aspects of brain development depend on experience
What are the issues with ASD assesment?
- Lifelong disorder. Onset before age 3 within first 2 years usually
- Deterioration of social skills and communication. Need comprehensive diagnostic assessment by multiple sources
- Delays in one developmental achievement can drastically impact acquisition of later development
- Symptoms are at their worst in preschool and can improve over time
- Lots of comorbidities e.g. ADHD
What would make a child be referred for ASD diagnosis?
Concerns about language development in toddlers
Toddler hearing and lack of response to verbal commands or his/her name
Uneven cognitive profile and academic underperformance
Social issues and peer problems
Other questions about differential diagnosis. Overlap with other conditions e.g. social withdraw is symptom of anxiety disorders and schizophrenia too
What are the five assessment steps for ASD?
- Review with parents child’s early development and current concerns
- Review records of school, previous testing, intervention
- Direct observation and interaction with child
- Teachers consulted on child’s school functioning
- Diagnostic tools & battery administration
What possible diagnostic tools were outlined by Ozonoff et al., 2007?
Parent: Autistic diagnostic interview- reviewed
Direct observation: Autistic diagnostic observation schedule
Intelligence: Differential Abilities scale
Language: Test of language competence
Who spoke about the [parent-teacher agreement for ASD?
Murray et al., 2009
What is the parent- teacher agreement for ASD?
- Used TRIAD social skills assessment
- Parent/teacher rating agreement for 45 children tested by Murray et al 2005
What did Murray et al., 2005 find?
- Tested validity of parent-teacher agreement
- Moderate agreement for overall social skills
- Little agreement on specific social items
- Parents consistently provided higher ratings on initiating social contact
- Teachers consistently provided higher ratings on responding to and maintaining interactions
- Both agreed most on affective understanding and perspective taking
Who talks about early intensive behavioural intervention for ASD?
Prinstein et al., 2019
What is Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention?
An intensive one to one small group, set in a preschool classroom, that emphasizes attention, imitation, language, play and social skills. It implements a high degree of structure and a daily routine. Also offers parent training.
who spoke about behavior modification for ASD?
Prinstein et al., 2019
What is behavior modification for ASD?
Firstly intervenes with dangerous behaviors such as biting, hitting scratching self. Then the child is taught teaching and learning readiness skills eg eye contact. then social behaviors eg reciprocity in speech.
