What is ASD?
Parent Information Session
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Aim for today….
To learn about and increase understanding of
ASD and how it manifests itself in everyday life
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Autism Spectrum Disorder
‘ASD is a complex developmental disability that
essentially affects the way a person
communicates and relates to people’
‘Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that
affects how a person communicates with and
Relates to other people. It also affects how they
make sense of the world around them’
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Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism?
Asperger’s
Syndrome?
High Functioning
Autism?
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Is ASD new?
• Leo Kanner first identified Autism in 1943
• Hans Asperger 1944
• Lorna Wing and Judith Gould 1978 – ‘Triad of
Impairment’
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What causes ASD?
• At the minute – exact causes are unknown
• Neurological and developmental condition
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What we do know……..
• It is not due to poor parenting
• It is not a learning difficulty
• It is not a mental health difficulty
• ASD is hidden – there are no physical
characteristics
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Prevalence (how common is ASD)
For every 100 children approximately 1 will have a
diagnosis of ASD
Average age of diagnosis (age group 2-18) is
9 Years 2 Months
(Gillian Gamble, 2010)
Ratio Boys : Girls
1:5
(Gillian Gamble, 2010)
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Co-existing difficulties
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•
•
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ADHD
Dyspraxia
Semantic Pragmatic Disorder
Anxieties, phobias and obsessive compulsive
tendencies
• Depression
• Fragile X
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Triad Of Impairment
Social Communication
ASD
Social Interaction
Imagination & Flexibility
of Thought
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Social Communication
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Social Communication
• Understanding of language
• Expressive language – saying words and
sentences
• How we say words and sentences – speech
sounds, tone of voice, intonation, volume, rate
• Communication without words – eye contact,
gesture, facial expression, body posture
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In ASD……
Understanding of Language
• Focusing attention and listening, can be easily
distracted by environmental noises
• Abstract phrases are ‘learned’ (idioms)
• Understanding of questions
• Literal understanding – process meaning of
words, not speakers intention
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‘I say what I mean but I
don’t always mean
what I say’
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol
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In ASD……
Expressive language
• Immediate and delayed echolalia
• Uses words and phrases in an unusual way or
out of context
• Expressive language may be more advanced
than receptive language
• Vocabulary Difficulties
• Struggles to offer social information
spontaneously
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Non-Verbal Communication
• Over 50% of our communication is non –verbal
• Children and young people with ASD have difficulties
understanding and using non-verbal communication
• It is just as important for a child to learn to understand
and use non-verbal communication as it is to understand
and use words.
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In ASD…..
Non verbal communication
• Intonation used inconsistently and contradicts
the meaning of words and phrases
• Incorrect volume to setting
• Unusual / lack of rhythm to speech
• Struggles to use voice skilfully to
communicate enthusiasm, boredom, worry
etc
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Non-Verbal Communication continued….
• Avoids eye contact with others or stares too
much at others
• Facial expression may be flat / unchanging or
overly animated
• Gesture may be absent from communication
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
•
•
•
•
•
•
Style of interaction
Getting others attention and starting interaction
Sharing interests and enjoyment
Reciprocal two way conversation
Making and keeping friendships
How to respond in different settings with different
people – reading the ‘social cues’
• Empathy
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Styles of interaction in ASD
The aloof group
The passive group
The ‘active but
odd group’
The over-formal
‘stilted’ group
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In ASD, getting others attention and
starting interaction
Younger children
• May not establish attention
• Rely on adults to ‘figure out’ what they want
• Physically give objects
• Be overly physical
ATTENDING to others
• Do not respond to name
• Unaware that others are attending to them
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Older children with ASD………
Aloof group
may be very direct when wanting
needs met
Active but odd group
Some attempts appear slightly
unusual but may be trying to get
others attention
Passive group
may not attempt to get others
attention or make undirected
comments and struggle to establish
others attention
Over formal-stilted group
May use adult like phrases to
establish others attention
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Sharing interests and enjoyment
• Interests can be intense and not typical
• Can be a barrier but can also be used to engage
• Enjoyment often not shared (verbally or nonverbally)
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Reciprocal (two way) conversations
• Difficulties starting a conversation
• Struggle to be flexible in responding to the
person they talk to
• Miss the subtle rules of conversations (taking
turns)
• Struggle to use conversation to share, negotiate
and compromise
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Making and keeping Friendships
• Friendships can be difficult for children with ASD
• ‘The child with Asperger’s Syndrome usually has a
concept of friendships that is immature and at least two
years behind that of his/her age peers’ (Attwood 2003)
• Consider child’s friendship needs, they may not be
similar to yours
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Reading the Social Cues
Social Responses in ASD
• Treat adults and peers similarly
• Struggle to adjust interaction to setting
• State the obvious (often factually accurate but
socially insensitive)
• May learn social niceties but struggle to use
spontaneously
• Maybe described as ‘socially awkward’ or
‘socially clumsy’
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Emotions & Empathy
• Children and young people with ASD experience
emotions but their ‘emotional maturity is usually behind
their peers’ (Attwood)
• Expressing emotions is often difficult for children &
young people with ASD – both verbally and non-verbally
• Children & young people with ASD struggle to interpret
others facial expressions
• They may appear insensitive to others feelings but it’s
rarely an intentional insensitivity – it’s due to lack of skill
and awareness
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Life tends to be either ‘happy’ or ‘not
happy’, ‘angry’ or ‘not angry’. All the in
between emotions on the continuum get
missed. I jump from being calm to panic
in one major step.
Lawson 2001
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Until recently I always believed that if someone
close to me was ‘angry’ then it must be because
of me.
Lawson 2001
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Imagination & Flexibility of Thought
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Imagination & Flexibility of thought
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•
•
•
•
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Play
Interests
Creativity
Flexibility
Rule bound
Routines
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Play in ASD
• Play skills are often delayed and may often be
‘stereotyped’
• Children with ASD are often drawn to objects in
environment in a non-play way (e.g. doors, light
switches)
• Often need to ‘learn’ how to play and may rely
on imitation
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Creativity
• Play sequences maybe highly repetitive or
sensory based
• Role play may be present but often imitation
from TV or other settings.
• Often have difficulty creating ideas in play (or
response to questions) that are not related to
own personal experience
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Flexibility & Rules
• Play skills may be evident but lack flexibility to
take on others ideas in play or repeat play
across environments.
• Winning is OK, loosing is not…
• Strong sense of injustice
• Need to finish activities
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Routines
• Strong liking for routine but often due to lack of
flexibility, creativity and ability to figure out social
cues that inform what will happen next.
• Problems coping with unexpected events
• Some routines and rituals are developed over
time to ease anxiety and regain control
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Mannerisms
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ASD and Sensory Processing
Research indicates that sensory difficulties are
a salient part of ASD
A greater understanding of the sensory world of
individuals on the spectrum allows us to help them
develop in a more comfortable environment.
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the problems arise not so much from Asperger’s
syndrome itself, as from a SOCIAL world which is
not designed for people with Asperger’s syndrome
but for people who think and perceive the world in
very different ways’
(Claire Sainsbury)
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Autism is not just a label but a signpost
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