Autism Spectrum Disorders

The field of autism interventions, as well as advice given to parents on educating children with autism spectrum disorders, is characterized by competing claims and controversy. This article compares two events targeted at parents, both of which were staged on the same weekend in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. One centered on applied behavioral analysis, holding out the promise of potential normalization for children with autism and their families. The other, mobilizing civil rights rhetoric, pushed for the full educational inclusion of all children with disabilities. This article investigates the assumptions underlying these varied positions and assesses some of the ways in which parents, especially mothers, make sense of and situationally negotiate these often emotionally charged claims and counter-claims.

Le traitement de l’autisme est un thème controversé depuis environ quatre
décennies. La première description formelle de l’autisme par Leo Kanner dans les années
1940 mettait l’accent notamment sur l’évolution d’un trouble neurodéveloppemental
assez homogène et n’évoquait pas la possibilité d’un traitement. À l’heure actuelle, il est
question de souscrire à un type de prise en charge qui oscille entre l’approche comportementale
et celui de type cognitive. Cependant, d’autres propositions de traitement sont
envisagées, nous analyserons deux d’entre elles.

In this talk, I presented the finding of my MEd dissertation on autistic women diagnosed in adulthood. The project consisted of an international sample of more that 50 women and I conducted online focus groups based on the participants' suggestions for discussion.

This presentation took place at the study weekend organised by the Autism Centre of Education and Research in the School of Education, University of Birmingham in April 2015.

This investigation examined the long term effect of Karate techniques training on communication of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Thirty school aged children with ASD were randomly assigned to an exercise (n = 15) or a control group (n = 15). Participants in the exercise group were engaged in 14 weeks of Karate techniques training. Communication deficit at baseline, post-intervention (week 14), and at 1 month follow up were evaluated. Exercise group showed significant reduction in communication deficit compared to control group. Moreover, reduction in communication deficit in the exercise group at one month follow up remained unchanged compared to post-intervention time. We concluded that teaching Karate techniques to children with ASD leads to significant reduction in their communication deficit

Our ancient environments weren’t as diverse as the possibilities modern society Many stories may claim the title of the “Greatest Story Ever Told”: the Iliad, the New Testament or Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. My personal favourite has always been human evolution - how we came to be the way we are. Consequently, prehistory has been my favourite part of history for a long time. When and why did we start to speak? That was the topic of my PhD thesis. However, more recently my main focus has been not on the traits we all share, like language, a theory of mind and a liking for high-calorie foods, but on why we are so diverse. All animal species show some variation in behaviour and the science of Behavioural Ecology has made great progress to understand these variations. Often there is not one single optimal strategy for survival and reproduction but several. So, variation isn’t surprising. Yet, just as often there is one and only one optimal strategy and this makes the extreme variation in human behaviour perplexing.

Humans differ vastly in their traits and behaviours. While some people are high-risk takers and take a jump from the stratosphere, others are content leading normal lives, having a steady job that supports their family. From the point of view of evolutionary psychology these traits are most likely to have their origin in our ancestral environments. The biggest change in our environment happened with the advent of agriculture. Early farmers had to adapt to the hard farming work by becoming more focused on sustained rote work and becoming physically stronger (heavier than the more lightweight hunter-gatherers). An alien biologist might even have come to assume that foragers and farmers were different species, judging from their behaviour, social organization and appearance.

An estimated 1.5% of the world’s population, approximately 120 million individuals, exist somewhere on the broad spectrum of autism. For far too long this spectrum, despite its diversity and nuance, was viewed as a monolithic, pathologized condition, to be cured or treated, rather than better understood or even celebrated as an identity and an alternative, but equally valid perceptual model of the world around us. This position has since shifted to a more strength based identity first position, and as the peak cohort of individuals first diagnosed when awareness was growing in the early 2000s are now reaching adulthood, self-advocacy has become an important and increasingly heard voice in the community. But architecture must listen.
I believe no one has the right to exist more comfortably, safely or effectively in space than anyone else, and it is our responsibility as architects to create the built landscape that affords this comfort, safety and efficacy to everyone- the entire spectrum of the human condition. The small collection of works included here strive to present design pathways to achieving that goal, and hopefully shift that perspective to stretch our understanding of the human condition- to be more inclusive, honest and reflective of the reality of our diverse and rich humanity.
#IQDMagazine https://iqd.it/en/

Autism often is associated with general perceptual deficits. However, especially in visual processing, research shows a specific profile of strengths and problems. Details appear to have a particular meaning for individuals with autism and are spontaneously preferred to conceptual information. This way of information processing on the one hand leads to assets like recognizing small things quickly but on the other hand can result in problems to understand complex situations. Implications for a better understanding and support of persons with autism are discussed.

The aim of this paper is to develop a phenomenological analysis of those psychopathologies which involve an intersubjective disruption, such as schizophrenia or autistic spectrum disorder. After briefly summarizing the contemporary debate about intersubjectivity, I will emphasize the importance of the living body in the development of our understanding of otherness, and I will show two qualitative tools I have personally developed: a " phenomenological test " that takes into account specific phenomenological notions and is aimed at the analysis of the so-called existentialia (self, other, time, space, body); and a form of therapy focused on the fortification of intercorporeality and of bodily awareness.

The analysis of mental disorders necessarily requires careful and multilayered reflection. Psychiatry is indeed focused on complex phenomena and symptoms that can be only partly traced back to merely quantitative objectifiable data. This is the reason why we witness a growing methodological and conceptual “mutual enlightenment” between philosophy and psychiatry. Whereas philosophy offers notions that can help to take into account also the qualitative aspects and the lived experiences of pathologies, clinical psychiatry seems to represent one of the most relevant practical fields for philosophy to test its explanatory capacity in relation to its many important issues. The history of phenomenological psychopathology, in particular, shows that philosophers have demonstrated a keen interest in the practical consequences of these issues in the field of clinical psychopathology.

It is important to note that, in diagnosing and analyzing some disorders as well as in providing therapeutic instructions, psychiatry turns to concepts that have a pronounced philosophical relevance. Human being, person, self, intersubjectivity, common sense, lived body (Leib) and inanimate body (Körper) are but some of the concepts employed to comprehend several psychopathologies – for instance, those entailing profound emotional and intersubjective disabilities such as schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder and depression. These notions have been the object of lively philosophical discussions. It is therefore quite difficult to imagine, for example, that the connections between time, body and otherness which emerge in certain psychopathologies could be analyzed in complete detachment from the philosophical debate over these issues or without asking whether there is any relationship between mental disorders and the peculiarity of human existence.

Considering these convergences, this special issue offers to its readers a series of contributions that investigate the possible relationships between specific psychopathological symptoms and some crucial philosophical issues from various viewpoints. Joel Krueger and Michelle Maiese argue that the notion of “mental institutions” – discussed in recent debates about extended cognition – can help better understand the origin and character of social impairments in autism, and also help illuminate the extent to which some mechanisms of autistic dysfunction extend across both internal and external factors (i.e., they do not just reside within an individual’s head). In his two papers, John Cutting explores the modus vivendi of schizophrenia and that of depression in relation to Max Scheler's phenomenology. Guido Cusinato develops a critical reflection on Cutting’s proposal, highlighting the intersubjective and enactive dimension of valueception impairments. Underlying  this discussion between Cutting and Cusinato there is a different way of interpreting the relationship between the modus vivendi of schizophrenia and Scheler’s phenomenological reduction. The next issue of the journal will include Cutting’s response to Cusinato’s observations. Guilherme Messas and Melissa Tamelini analyze two concepts of a philosophical origin – that of dialectics and that of essence – which, in their strict application to psychopathology, could be of considerable value for diagnostic purposes and for the introduction and follow-up of therapeutic strategies. Lucas Bloc and Virginia Moirera propose an outline of clinical phenomenology for eating disorders inspired by Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical phenomenology. Francesca Brencio explores the “pathic” dimension of existence, which is the capacity of both being affected and being situated within moods and atmospheres. The broader purpose of her paper is to show how the “pathic” dimension of existence is related to psychopathology and clinical practice, for example in affective disorders and schizophrenia. Valeria Bizzari draws attention to the interaffective and intersubjective dimensions of Asperger’s subjects. Finally, Gilberto di Petta and Mario Rossi Monti highlight the importance of the debate on these issues that took place in Italy, retracing the history of the Italian Society for Phenomenological Psychopathology and the School of Phenomenological-Dynamic Psychotherapy.

There will be a further issue of the journal on this topic. All together, these papers aim to promote a closer comparison and collaboration between psychiatry and philosophy, going beyond a reductive and merely symptomatological conception of mental illness and widening the horizon so as to research areas that so far have remained on the margins of phenomenological psychopathology, such as the dimensions concerning value and affectivity.


John Cutting and Guido Cusinato

ABSTRACT
In this study, the impact of teaching with colors on the musical notes learning skills of an autistic child has been investigated. The data of the study were obtained through parent, teacher and expert evaluations. The study was conducted using a single-subject research pattern. The research was carried out with an 11-year-old autistic boy, who was going to a special education and rehabilitation center in Çanakkale. At the beginning of the study, an initial level data was obtained by the evaluation of three experts. After it was determined that the initial level data was stable, teaching musical notes with colors has begun. During the training sessions, data were collected continuously. As a result of the research, it was observed that the student learned the notes in the interval between Do1 and Mi2 through colors; after the removal of the color method, the knowledge of notes has continued to advance; the knowledge gained by playing metallophone, in the beginning, has been
reflected to the training so that he started piano and block flute; he enjoys playing the instrument by learning new notes, time values and measures. Also, as a result of interviews with family and teachers, it was also found that the child showed a positive change in behavior, better attention, more patience and academic success.
Keywords: Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Autism, Music Education, Instrument
Education, Teaching Music with Color, Single-Subject Pattern.

ÖZET
Bu çalışmada otizmli bir çocuğun nota öğrenme becerileri üzerinde renklerle nota öğretiminin etkisi incelenmiştir. Çalışmanın verileri ebeveyn ve öğretmen değerlendirmeleri yoluyla elde edilmiştir. Çalışma, tek denekli araştırma deseni kullanılarak yapılmıştır. Araştırma, Çanakkale’de bir özel eğitim ve rehabilitasyon merkezine devam eden 11 yaşında otizmli bir erkek çocuğu ile yürütülmüştür. Çalışmanın başlangıcında üç uzmanın değerlendirmesiyle bir başlangıç düzeyi verisi
elde edilmiştir. Başlangıç düzeyi verisinin kararlı olduğu görüldükten sonra, renklerle nota öğretimine başlanmıştır. Eğitim uygulamaları sırasında sürekli veri toplanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, otizmli öğrencinin renkler yoluyla Do1 ve Mi2 arasındaki on notayı öğrendiği, renk yönteminin on nota sonra kaldırılarak normal nota yazısına döndürülmesinin ardından nota bilgisinin ilerleyerek devam ettiği, yeni notalar, süre değerleri ve ölçülere uyumunun çok rahat olduğu ve çalgı çalmaktan keyif aldığı görülmüştür. Ayrıca aile ve öğretmenleriyle yapılan
görüşme sonucunda çocuğun davranışsal olarak da olumlu değişim gösterdiği, dikkatini daha iyi topladığı, daha sabırlı olduğu ve akademik başarısının arttığı yönünde bildirimler alınmıştır.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Otizm, Müzik Eğitimi, Çalgı Eğitimi, Renklerle Nota Öğretimi, Tek Denekli Desen.

This paper explores the inclusion of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder in mainstream primary schools in England, drawing on existing research. Following a discussion on the nature and importance of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, the paper goes on to explore two main themes: theory and policy, and the impact of inclusion on practice. The section on theory and policy considers the history of inclusive education and the importance of inclusive practice, and goes on to define and analyse the barriers to inclusion. Finally, this section analyses the specific inclusion of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The section on the impact of inclusion on practice is further split into educational inclusion and social inclusion, paying particular attention to the different support and barriers affecting these issues. This paper has found that children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder are not fully included in mainstream primary schools; they experience higher rates of exclusion, lower attainment and higher rates of bullying. In order to increase the inclusion of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder in mainstream primary schools, teachers need to address the complexity and individuality of these children and adapt their strategies accordingly. This paper concludes that the main barriers to educational and social inclusion are a lack of financial support and autism specific training for teachers.

The study aimed to identify the relationship of the autism spectrum disorder and its type or degree with the motivation to learn verbal communication for children on the autism spectrum in special education centers from the point of view of speech therapists, As the motivation to learn verbal communication is a new feature in the field of communication. The study was applied to two speech therapists and 4 children previously diagnosed with autism at Russell center for Autistic Children in Ramallah, Palestine. The qualitative approach was used to identify the children's motivation for verbal communication by developing indicators that measure their motivation to respond in speech therapy sessions, by interviewing specialists. besides that, the participatory observation of the children during the sessions, at the rate of 4 sessions for each child. With the use of the Indian assessment scale to find out the type and degree of autism by interviewing parents. The results of the study showed that there is no relationship between the type or degree of autism and the motivation of verbal communication, but rather that different characteristics of children, their tendencies, desires, and the organized environment, it was related to the motivation of verbal communication. The results also showed a lack of learning motivation for the verbal communication skill of the first child and the second girl by 86.7%, the third by 40%, and the fourth by 26.7%. The study recommended that the motivation to learn verbal communication be added as a feature that falls under the field of verbal communication for children on the autism spectrum. And to distinguish between learning motivation for verbal communication and verbal communication when planning the speech therapy sessions.

An autistic meltdown, which involves an instinctive "fight or flight" reaction, must be distinguished from temper tantrums, which are  engaged in consciously and are manipulative in nature.  Children who melt down in school are not manipulative--they are terrified and in pain.  Educators must understand this if they are to deal effectively with meltdowns.

This is the first qualitative study to investigate experiences of, and attitudes towards, autism in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. Understanding the complexity of these attitudes is crucial because they influence the recognition of autism as well as the ways in which individuals and families are supported. Twelve families with 16 autistic children living in diverse regions of Australia participated in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were thematically analysed using the six-step process outlined by Braun and Clarke. The analysis identified a marked tension in participants’ accounts. On the one hand, participants described negative feelings, including shame associated with atypical behaviour, stigmatisation and the social isolation of families, which potentially point towards under-identification or misdiagnosis. On the other hand, they also described inclusive attitudes, including ‘looking after each other’ and a growing acceptance of auti...

The different types of atypical development manifest themselves in deviations in the development and operation of neurological functions involved in the process called neurological maturation. We assume that what is called neurological maturation is in effect dependent on the cultural development of homo sapiens. Our culture changes and evolves. In the past, the skills and abilities of our hunter-gatherer ancestors with being a mainly oral culture is significantly different from the agricultural, stockbreeder, farmer lifestyle coupled with a mainly written culture. Each of these very distinct cultural styles requires different behaviour and cognitive functions. In this article, we discuss how the increased prevalence of learning and control difficulties, along with autism, may be a result of the vulnerability of the cerebral functions which from the perspective of human development count as very new. However, this may be only one aspect of a very complex story, as what may present a...

هدف از پژوهش حاضر، تعیین اثربخشی آموزش بازی های اجتماعی بر علائم اضطراب کودکان مبتلا به اختلال اتیسم با عملکرد بالا بود. روش پژوهش از نوع نیمه آزمایشی با طرح پیش آزمون-پس آزمون با گروه کنترل بود. جامعه آماری این پژوهش را کلیه کودکان پسر 10 تا 12 سال مبتلا به اختلال اتیسم که درسال 1396 درحال دریافت خدماتتوانبخشی از مراکز درمانی شهر تهران بودند، تشکیل دادند. در این پژوهش 16 کودک پسر مبتلا به اختلال اتیسم با عملکرد بالا (درج شده در پرونده روانپزشکی) با استفاده از روش نمونه گیری در دسترس به عنوان حجم نمونه انتخاب و 8 نفر از آنها در گروه آزمایش و 8 نفر دیگر در گروه کنترل به شیوه تصادفی گمارش شدند. در ابتدا هردو گروهتوسط پرسشنامه اضطراب اسپنس مورد ارزیابی قرار گرفتند. گروه آزمایش در 10 جلسه 30 دقیقه ای به مدت 6 هفته بازی های اجتماعی دریافت کردند در حالی که گروه کنترل چنین مداخله ای را دریافت نکردند. در پایان مجددا هردوگروه توسط پرسشنامه اضطراب اسپنس مورد ارزیابی قرار گرفتند. داده ها با استفاده از تحلیل کوواریانس مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت. یافته های این پژوهش نشان داد که آموزش بازی های اجتماعی سبب کاهش اضطراب کودکان مبتلا به اختلال اتیسم با عملکرد بالا می شود. از این رو میتوان بازی های اجتماعی به عنوان یه یک روش سودمند موثر در آموزش کودکان مبتلا به اختلال اتیسم با عملکرد بالا سود جست.

The Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success (COMPASS) is an evidence-based, student-centered consultation and coaching intervention developed specifically for students with ASD.

What is COMPASS? It starts with parent-teacher consultation with a COMPASS trained consultant resulting in individualized goals and teaching plans using an Evidence Based Practice in Psychology (EBPP) framework. After the consultation, teachers receive evidence-based coaching with performance feedback and progress monitoring towards IEP progress.

What are the theoretical frameworks that inform COMPASS? COMPASS is an implementation strategy influenced by the framework  of Dunst, Trivette, and Raab (2013) (Figure 3) that considers the relationships between what the COMPASS consultant does (implementation practice) to impact what the teacher does (intervention practice) to improve child educational outcomes (practice outcomes).

What has the previous research on COMPASS found? Three previous randomized controlled trials found that COMPASS results in better IEP quality and goal attainment progress over the course of an academic year compared to control groups.

What is this study about? All previous studies have been delivered by the original developers. This study sought to train local, school-based consultants to implement COMPASS with high fidelity and satisfaction.

In this talk I talked about the experiences of autistic women, drawing both from my own personal experiences as well as research that I have conducted. I also touch on how feminist discourses and actions might fail to recognise autistic women and what impact that may have on them.

This presentation took place at the study weekend organised by the Autism Centre of Education and Research in the School of Education, University of Birmingham in April 2016.

This study aimed to verify the use of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-
CHAT) as a level two screening tool to detect children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) under 2 years of age. There were 100 children from 18 to 24 months old, including 37 infants with ASD, and 63 infants with developmental delay (DD). Comparing the accuracy of the 4 different criteria, the former two criteria were suggested by original researchers, while the latter ones were newly developed through the signal detection procedures and the structure matrix of discriminant analysis in current study. The 4 criteria were used: (1) any three of total items, (2) two critical items of 6 most discriminating items (DFA6), (3) any 4 of total items, (4) two critical items of DFA 9. Using the first criterion, the sensitivity and specificity were .78 and .56, respectively. Using the second criterion, the sensitivity and specificity were .60 and .92, respectively. Using the third criterion, the sensitivity and specificity were .73 and .71, respectively. Using the last criterion, the sensitivity and specificity were .67 and .84. Results of current study suggested using any 4 of total items and two of DFA 9 as the screening criteria for detecting children under 2 years old within a clinical setting in Taiwan.

Objective: To establish the efficacy of Communication DEALL, an indigenous early intervention program; in the management of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Methods: ABA design of pre intervention assessment, intervention and post intervention assessment was utilized across an 8 month period. The first set of measures covered the developmental skill in eight areas of gross motor skills, fine motor skills, activity of daily living skills, receptive language, expressive language, cognitive, social and emotional skills. The second independent assessment was rating of each child on the CARS. Parental observation and parental estimation of the child's progress was also recorded. The study was conducted in the Com DEALL units in Bangalore, including thirty subjects diagnosed with ASD. Main outcome measure was developmental skill gains and decrease in behavioral issues.
Result: Statistically significant increase in all the eight developmental domains and statistically significant decrease in behavioral symptoms as measures by CARS, was seen.
Conclusion: Thus, the Com DEALL program shows promise as an effective early intervention. It also indicates a need to further enhance the stabilization of the pre linguistic skills, such as maintenance of eye contact, attention, sitting tolerance and compliance, in the program.

This research consists of a comparative analysis of the results obtained in the development of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) found as a consequence of the application of three basic models of educational guidance: 1) the social mediation model; 2) the counselling model; and 3) the service model, delivered through services developed over three years, distributed across three experimental groups corresponding to each of these guidance models. A total of N: 18 students with ASD of different levels, ages and genders have participated in the study, assigned to one of the three following groups: a social mediation model group, a counselling model group and a services model group. Study of the data was undertaken by analysing the multivariate contrasts of repeated measures ANOVA for a factor of three measures, both for the variable group types (three groups), as well as for the participants' level, age and gender variables. The results show the statistically significant benefits of the social mediation model.

The intent of this book is to serve as a guide for teachers, teachers in training, and other service providers to engage in understanding and analyzing inclusion to help prepare them for how they can best teach and serve all students, including those with a disability. These case studies provide a guide for analyzing real life situations and will help readers to become a better teacher and service provider. Too often the inclusion planning process only looks at a few areas and not a comprehensive analysis of skill and support needs. This book provides the framework for analyzing these areas.

During the last decades, the importance of adopting Evidence Based Practice (EBP) to support pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder has become pivotal. However, scientific literature on the theme highlights the challenges when attempting to apply and maintain the same levels of effectiveness of these practices within the school system which may compromise the effectiveness of the practices itself. This seems to be also due to a low degree of acceptability, a lack of intentionality in the adoption of an EBP and a low consideration of its appropriateness by stakeholders who do not consider it satisfactory or usable in their context (Davis, 1993; Rogers , 1995; Proctor et al., 2011).Based on these premises, this study is aimed at exploring the degree of acceptability, adoptability and appropriateness of the G-ESDM by teachers of the Italian preschools in order to later investigate the possible implementation of the model in Italian preschools

Purpose Individuals with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within criminal justice settings are a highly heterogeneous group. Although studies have examined differences between those with and without ASD in such settings, there has been no examination of differences within the ASD group. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the findings of a service evaluation project, this paper introduces a typology of ASD within forensic mental health and intellectual disability settings. Findings The eight subtypes that are described draw on clinical variables including psychopathy, psychosis and intensity/frequency of problem behaviours that co-occur with the ASD. The initial assessment of inter-rater reliability on the current version of the typology revealed excellent agreement, multirater Kfree =0.90. Practical implications The proposed typology could improve understanding of the relationship between ASD and forensic risk, identify the most...