Communication Disorders in Autism Midterm

difference between Level 1, 2, 3 autism

• severity is based on social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior

  • Level 1: support required

    • many people who fit into Level 1 now would have been diagnosed with Asperger’s 

  • Level 2: substantial support

  • Level 3: very substantial support

determining the function of the behavior (ABCs)

• Antecedent

  • what occurs right before the behavior

  • look for patterns and not single instances

• Behavior

• Consequence

  • Does the individual get their needs met?

  • Does the behavior get (inadvertently) reinforced?

5 questions for comprehensible environment

• Where should I be?

• What work or activity will I do?

• How much work will I do?/How long will it last?

• How will I know that I am making progress and when I have finished?

• What will I do next?

why structure?

• Students with autism Spectrum disorders (ASDs) tend to be disorganized or otherwise ineffective in their approach to many materials and activities

  • Therefore, they need external organizational support in order to be meaningfully engaged in learning

what type of swinging motion for comfort, relax?

side to side linear movement

what type of swinging motion to stimulate, excite?

rapid, multiple directions, changing speed

hypersensitive children avoid or seek out stimulation?

avoid

hyposensitive children avoid or seek out stimulation?

seek out

behavioral functions

• Attention

  • Goal: obtain social attention from others

  • Trigger: being left alone or feeling alone

• Tangible

  • Goal: obtain desired items or activities

  • Trigger: request by adult to give up a desired item or end a desirable activity

• Escape

  • Goal: remove undesired requests or activities

  • Trigger: request to do something undesirable to individual

• Sensory

  • Goal: obtain sensory feedback (touch, sight, taste, sound)

  • Trigger: understimulation (being left alone) or overstimulation (needing to calm)

Wetherby 9 signs of autism: 6 behaviors missing, 3 atypical behaviors

• 6 behaviors lacking in development:

  • appropriate gaze

  • warm, joyful expressions with gaze

  • sharing enjoyment or interest

  • response to name

  • coordination of gaze, facial expression, gesture, and sound

  • showing

• 3 atypical behaviors observed:

  • unusual prosody

  • repetitive movements or posturing of body, arms, hands, or fingers

  • repetitive movements with objects

4 signs seen in both children with autism and developmental delays but not neurotypical children by second year of life

• lack of response to contextual cues

• lack of pointing

• lack of vocalizations with consonants

• lack of playing with a variety of toys conventionally

person-first vs identity-first language

person with autism vs autistic person

person-first: put person before diagnosis, humanize them

identity-first: autism is key part of identity, don’t erase experience

what part of language will every autistic person struggle with, regardless of level?

pragmatics

brain differences

there are differences in structure and function

• These studies provide neurological evidence that individuals with autism think and perceive the world differently.

  • Can you make a client with autism think like you do?

    • no

  • If they learn differently than neurotypical peers, should the learning strategies presented be the same as neurotypical peers?

    • no

• Students with autism cannot change the way they think and perceive the world; it is the result of the way their brains are wired

  • Changes have to be made to accommodate them

• Next time you feel like saying, “He can do it. He just won’t!”

  • Remember that a child reacts in a certain way because of the information his brain gives him about the situation

  • It’s the professional’s job to interpret the child’s behavior and make changes so he will respond

joint attention

• two people are looking at the same thing, then look back at each other to share in the experience

• alternating gaze is a key component!!

• Joint attention challenges are key

  • To have this skill, you need an understanding of how to engage others’ minds by:

    • gaze following

    • pointing

    • using gestures such as to offer or show

  • brain research supports that joint attention and theory of mind are located in the same region of the brain; therefore, individuals with autism who lack skills in joint attention also have impaired ability to judge what others are thinking

  • joint attention plays a pivotal role in establishing intentional communication; for this to occur you must have:

    • shared awareness

    • engagement (work through interest areas)

  • research shows that the amount of joint attention engaged in is highly correlated with vocabulary, language, and social gains

  • joint attention sets the stage for the ability to read others’ intentions

pruning and baby games

• Neurological Basis for Differences

  • Babies are born with excess neurons (brain cells)

  • As an infant develops, her life experiences “prune” the brain by allowing unused neurons to die

• Baby Games

  • Neurotypical infants readily engage in peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, and many other simple games with their parents

  • These games are important precursors to the development of social communication

  • In a deceptively simple baby game, mother and child are engaged in

    • Attention sharing

    • Affect sharing

    • Social reciprocity

  • The infant is also learning to

    • Regulate interaction

    • Anticipate what will come next

  • EEGs have shown that:

    • While a baby is engaged in these simple games, there is an increase in electrical activity in the areas of the brain having to do with emotional regulation, interaction, and sequencing

  • Infants with autism do not as readily engage in baby games as their typically developing peers do

    • Not only are they missing out on opportunities to engage in emotional regulation, affect and attention sharing, anticipation, and social reciprocity …

    • But the neurons that would normally be used in these activities are not getting activated, and the new neural pathways are not being built

who can diagnose autism

• A clinical evaluation should be done by a specialist who is experienced with ASD

  • psychologist

  • developmental pediatrician

  • psychiatrist

  • neurologist

slp can but shouldn’t, we can bring it up

should parents wait and see

no, recommend ei even if no diagnosis yet

affect sharing

aware of others’ emotions

intention reading

know what others’ behaviors mean

sensory seeking vs sensory avoiding vs low registration

seeking stimuli, avoiding stimuli, needs more stimuli to respond so may seem distant