9 neurodivergence in dev and autism

Causes of developmental conditions

chromosomal abnormalities - genetic mutation (down syndrome extra copy of chromosome 21)

prenatal factors - damage while in the womb (oxygen deprivation, maternal infection, structural diffs in brain) (cerebral palsy)

unknown combination - genetic, enviro, psychological, neurological

Wing and Gould triad of impairments

A. social interactions - eye contact and relationships

B. communication - language delay, no make-belief play

C. restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour - narrow interests, compulsive/ ritualistic behaviours

Causes of autism

hereditary - some evidence from twin and family studies

structural brain diffs

no clear genetic/ neurological expl

Problems with diagnosis

diagnosed and defined using behavioural criteria - some signs appear early (12-18 months), typically around 3+ years but can go undiagnosed

increased recently in numbers, largely due to better diagnostic material and understanding of impairments

developmental outcomes highly variable

What are some traditional theories about autism?

EF - idea that repetitive, restricted behaviours explained by impairment in executive control

weak central coherence - bias for featural or local info/ details

ToM deficit

Baron-Cohen (1985) Sally-Anne false belief task findings?

80% of those with thought disorders (aged 4) and down syndrome (with mental age >4) solved

only 20% of autistic group (mental age >4) solved

What evidence is there that opposes the idea that autistic individuals lack ToM?

Gernsbacher & Yergeau (2019) say that this idea stems from flawed methodology and misinterpretations of data

e.g. researchers assume that failure to solve these tasks (e.g. Sally-Anne task) reflects lack of ToM when could be difficulties in understanding verbal instructions for example

Baron-Cohen (1997) inferring mental states only from eyes findings?

autistic group significantly impaired compared to TD group and Tourette’s group

BUT criticised that doesn’t actually test ToM

Double empathy problem (e.g. Milton, 2012)

autistic and non-autistic people have diff social communication styles

Sheppard et al (2016)

• Autistic and Non-autistic people filmed during
  4 conditions (joke, waiting, telling story, telling
  compliments)

• Non-autistic participants better able to correctly identify condition for other non-autistics (in all except ‘joke’ condition)

• Not because autistic participants reacting “less expressively”

• In a separate study, rated just as “expressive” as non-autistic people in all conditions except “compliments'“

Social motivation hypothesis

autistic people less motivated to engage in social interactions vs neurotypicals

Jaswal & Akhtar (2019)

challenging social motivation hypothesis

autistic diffs in behaviour may reflect communication prefs rather than disinterest (lack of eye contact may help them process verbal info better)

social barriers of autism for social interactions

communication challenges

sensory overload in social enviros

negative past experiences of rejection or misunderstanding