Q: What type of language is often preferred by the autism community?
A: Identity-first language (e.g., “autistic child”).
Q: Why do many autistic individuals prefer identity-first language?
A: Because autism is seen as part of their identity and not something shameful.
Q: Name a common myth about autism
A: That all autistic children have intellectual disability.
A: The belief that all autistic individuals have extraordinary abilities (savants)
A: The myth that autistic children do not care about other people.
A: The myth that autistic children do not want friends.
A: That vaccines cause autism.
Q: What are the two main defining characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder?
A: Impairments in social communication and restricted/repetitive behaviors.
Q: What does the word “autism” mean?
A: “Within oneself,” reflecting difficulty interacting with the external world.
Q: Why is autism called a “spectrum”?
A: Because symptoms vary widely in type and severity across individuals e.g. intelligence, language problems. Within child level of severity may change asexperience gains in social and cognitive skills
Q: What are the three DSM-5 social communication impairments in ASD? (need all 3 for diagnosis)
A: Social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication deficits, and difficulty developing/maintaining/understanding relationships.
Q: What are the 4 DSM-5 restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities criteria in ASD? (need at least 2 for diagnosis)
- stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects or speech
- Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualised patterns of verbal or nonverbal behaviour
- Highly restricted and fixed interests
- Hyper or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment
What is social-emotional reciprocity?
A: The ability to engage in back-and-forth social interactions.
Give examples of impairements in social-emotional reciprocity
- failure to initiate or respond to social interactions
- Joint attention deficits -> do not use eye contact to initiate e.g.
- Abnormal social approach and failure to engage in normal back-and-forth conversation
- reduced sharing of interests or emotions
Examples of nonverbal communicative behaviours
- Abnormalities in eye contact and body langauge (e.g. peering out corner of eye, eye contact maybe seen as socially threatening/uncomfy)
- Lack of facial expressions
- Poorly integrating verbal and nonverbal communication (saying i want magazine and pointing to it)
- Deficits in understanding and use of certain types of gestures -> protoimperative vs protodeclerative gestures
Q: What is a proto-imperative gesture?
A: A gesture used to request something or express a need.
Q: What is a proto-declarative gesture?
A: A gesture used to share interest in something with others.
Q: Which gesture type is more common in autism: proto-imperative or proto-declarative?
A: Proto-imperative gestures.
Examples of deficits in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships
- Difficulty in sharing imaginative play
- Difficulty making friends
- Impairment in adjusting behaviour to suit various social contexts
- Atypical level of interest in peers
(deficit in ability to understand and respond to social info, not deficit in ability to bond with others)
Examples of restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests
- Highly restricted, fixated interests
- Repetitive speech (e.g. echolalia (repeating a word or phrase that someone else has said), idiosyncratic phrases)
- Self-stimulatory behaviours (e.g. hand flapping, rocking etc.)
- Insistence on sameness of behaviours
What are 3 theories that try and explain why autistic children engage in self stimulatory behaviour?
- Due to craving for stimulation to excite their nervous system
- It is a way of blocking out and controlling unwanted stimulation from the environment that is too stimulating
- Self stimulatory behaviour is maintained by the sensory reinforcement that it provides.
What are 2 other symptoms of ASD which are not focused on behaviours?
- Deficits in processing social emotional information
- Sensory and perceptual impairments
Examples of Deficits in processing social emotional information
- Difficulty understanding unspoken rules and social situations
- Difficulty understanding nonverbal emotional information (e.g. facial expressions)
- Difficulty understanding Theory of Mind (ToM)
Examples of sensory and perceptual impairments
- Oversensitivites and undersensitivities to certain stimuli (e.g. enjoy deep strong hug but dislike light touch)
- Overselective and impaired shifting of attention to sensory input (e.g. paying attention to both movement and sound of a person clapping)
What are the two parts of autism assessment?
- Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R)
- Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2)
What is the ADI-R?
- Structure interview conducted with the parents
- Assesses behaviour in areas of reciprocal social interaction, communication and language, and patterns of behaviour
What is the ADOS-2
- semi structured assessment of communication, social interaction and imaginative play
- Provides a 30-45 min observation period during which examiner provides child with numerous opportunities to exhibit behaviours that are part of diagnostic criteria
- Examiner uses presses -> planned social activities that tend to elicit demonstration of social reciprocity skills, communication skills, and imaginative play -> e.g. having them tell a story based on pictures that has physicality to see if use gestures
