Child Psychology 560 Atypical Development 2 03 04 2014 Autism Lovaas movie o o o o Founder of Behavior Therapy for Autism Teaches her to sit given food as a reward Don t give in to her temper tantrum the tantrums decrease Kissing is a good reinforcer o Reinforcement learning Behaviorism Skinner a link to earlier this semester CNN Video o A Different Perspective Autism Atypical behavior different no judgment Spectrum behavior lies along a spectrum some have strong language skills some non communicative Disorder or difference Neurodiversity Autism 3 main areas of challenge Communication Social interaction Repetitive or constrained interests Autism Social Interaction Nonverbal communication e g gaze aversion o o Don t tend to like eye contact See it at a young age Peer interactions Joint attention o Not attending to eye gaze Emotional reciprocity o Picking up on someone else s emotion and responding to them Related Difficulties o Less likely to play with peers prefer adults o o Interactions less social more about their own needs Less responsive to others distress o Adults are more predictable less noisy and in your face Less empathic responding egocentric behavior past Piaget s theory Poor performance on theory of mind tasks Competence vs performance Autism Language Communication 25 50 nonverbal Significant delays o o First words 24 months First phrases 36 48 months Slower to recognize known words o Not just motor challenges Weak conversational skills pragmatics Unusual speech o Flat quiet or loud relates to the egocentric idea Echolalia o Echoing speech child repeats what they heard in a way that s not meaningful echoing sounds that they just heard Autism Repetitive formulaic interests activities Resist change prefer routines rituals Highly specialized interests sometimes in unusual topics Preoccupation with irrelevant parts of toys how things look feel Stimming flapping whole body movements Austims Prevalence 2010 1 68 children carry Autism diagnosis Boys 5x Girls o 1 in 42 boys 120 increase since 2002 Higher rates of diagnosis in high SES groups likely speaks to availability to health care o o o 1 63 white 1 81 black 1 93 Hispanic Actual change in incidence o Possible factors Better diagnosis Diagnosed younger Increased awareness Recognition of milder forms broader definition Pressure to diagnose to access services Autism as a Spectrum 3 subtypes of Autism diagnosis o o o Aspergers syndrome Classic Autism Pervasive Developmental Disorder not otherwise specified PDD NOS Big catch all on the spectrum but not Autistic Aspergers Communication relatively intact challenges in social interaction focused interests Diagnosis Autism is one of the most robust DSM IV diagnoses Sensitivity of 82 o Specificity of 87 o Probability of positive diagnosis given the disorder Probability of a negative diagnosis given no disorder 20 of people currently diagnosed with Autism wouldn t be considered basked on the new criteria in the DSM V Early Intensive Intervention requires early diagnosis o o Preliminary screening to maximize coverage Intensive evaluation for children who fail screener Autism Diagnostic Interview parent Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule child Etiology Multiple causes Genetic factors to some extent MZ DZ o Many candidate genes 100 Not vaccinations o o Original paper retracted fraud allegations proved financial gain Numerous demonstrations of no effects Interventions Medication not helpful for core symptoms Applied Behavior Analysis ABA Lovaas o Issues about sampling and bias in original studies Social approach Floortime o Play based in child s comfort zone 03 04 2014 03 04 2014