AUTISM YOU ARE REQUIRED TO KNOW ONE DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUE THAT AFFECTS A CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT. WE LOOK AT AUTISM AS YOU CAN ALSO USE IT AS A KEY ISSUE FOR THE BIOLOGICAL APPROACH.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTISM It is usually autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) that is discussed as it is recognised that a child can show behaviour and characteristics that fall any point between mild and severe autism. Mildly autistic is diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome and the spectrum runs from mild Asperger’s to severely autistic.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTISM Autism is a developmental disorder that affects more boys than girls. For Asperger's Syndrome there is a ratio of 9 boys to every 1 girl. For Autism the ratio is nearer to 4:1. There is about 0.2% of the population with Autism. There is not a complete set of symptoms of autism but a variety of characteristics – groups of these characteristics lead to a diagnosis of autism.

CHARACTERISTIC OF AUTISM

CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTISM Up to 10% of people with autism have high ability in one special area, usually connected to systematising, such as playing the piano, doing maths, or drawing in perfect detail. These people are known are as autistic savants (someone of profound learning). One example of this is Daniel Tammet, who has a facility for mathematical and natural language learning. He has synaesthesia, a disorder where senses become muddled, and one sense begins to stimulate another (for example, seeing sounds).

BBC HORIZON – LIVING WITH AUTISM

CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

HOW AUTISM MIGHT AFFECT A CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT There are many ways in which a child’s development is affected by autism, including finding it hard to make friends (because of problems with emphasising) and finding communication difficult (including talking, reading and writing, which are all basic skills for learning)

DIFFICULTIES IN MAKING FRIENDS One of the biggest problems associated with autism is the social problems it brings about. Anyone who has difficulty in empathising and understanding the thoughts and emotions of others is going to struggle building relationships. Whilst autistic people seem to prefer to be by themselves, it is advised that parents encourage friendships to their autistic children from an early age, as these relationships are equally important to an autistic child. Israeli researchers Bauminger and Shulman (2003) studied friendships of high-functioning autistic children, and compared them to those friendships of children without autism. Both groups tended to have friends of the same gender and age, but the difference occurred with number of friends, how often they met, how long they had been friends and what sorts of activities they would do together. Also, Bauminger and Kasari (2000) reported that autistic children were more lonely than other children, but also understood less about loneliness. They looked at high-functioning autistic children, who all said they had at least one friend, but the quality of the friendship wasn’t very strong, providing less companionship and security.

PROBLEMS WITH COMMUNICATION Autistic children also have problems with communication, including learning language as well as reading and writing. They tend to have difficulty with the meaning of words and sentences. Whilst some can speak fluently, others cannot speak at all, so it is tough to generalise, but most have some communication and learning difficulties. Problems with autistic children and language may arise where they can learn some language but use it without true meaning, such as hearing a sentence and repeating it elsewhere, where it would be inappropriate. Often, an autistic person is able to speak in-depth about a topic which really interests them, but are usually unable to engage in a proper conversation about that topic. Communication and language problems in autistic children can be linked to the difficulties in making friends, as having trouble maintaining eye contact and engaging in conversation means a child is less likely to maintain good friendships. Therefore, language and communication restrict not only learning capacity, but also social ability.

TWO EXPLANATIONS – SIMON BARON-COHEN You will explore both a cognitive and a biological explanation for autism. The Cognitive – Theory of mind and autism The Biological – Autism and the extreme male brain