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Autism
Published in Charles Theisler, Adjuvant Medical Care, 2023
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social interaction via limited commu nication (verbal and nonverbal), and by restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. ASD is a developmental disorder with symptoms typically appearing in the first two years of life. The symptoms interfere with the individual’s ability to properly function at school, work, and other areas of life.1 No current specific medication exists to treat autism and there is no cure. Interventional therapies for behavior and communication or education are a mainstay of medical management.
Autism
Published in Nichola Tyler, Anne Sheeran, Working with Autistic People in the Criminal Justice and Forensic Mental Health Systems, 2022
The characteristics of ASD according to the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (APA, 2013) are: persistent deficits in reciprocal social communication and social interaction; restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities; and hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input.
Animal healers
Published in Clive R. Hollin, An Introduction to Human–Animal Relationships, 2021
Ward et al. evaluated a 30-week TR programme for 21 autistic children, mean age 8.1 years. Each session was based on the four themes of orientation, such as preparing food for the horses, followed by mounting and riding, riding skills, and finally closure where the children said goodbye their horse. The teacher ratings of the children showed a significant increase in social interaction, improved sensory processing, and a decrease in symptom severity. Gabriels et al. (2015) carried out a randomised control trial of TR with 116 children aged between 6 and 16 years with a diagnosis of ASD. The TR group showed significant positive changes in social cognition, social communication and language. Anderson and Meints (2016) report a study involving children aged from 5 to 16 years with a diagnosis of ASD. The children engaged in a 5-week programme with a 3-hour session per week addressing therapeutic riding, horsemanship (grooming etc.) and stable management (cleaning, feeding etc.). The findings showed an overall reduction in maladaptive behaviour but no significant change in social and communication skills.
Video-based instruction in enhancing functional living skills of adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder and their transition to independent living: a review
Published in International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 2022
Christine K. Syriopoulou–Delli, Kyriaki Sarri
Individuals with ASD have various impairments in social functioning, including stereotypical gestures, difficulty with eye contact, limited emotional and social reciprocity and inability to comprehend facial expressions and body language, and in addition, aggressive behavior is not uncommon (American Psychiatric Association 2013). All these characteristics may lead to an inability to develop and maintain high-quality social relationships. Adolescents and young adults with ASD face either unemployment or underemployment. They have problems in adjusting to a new setting, and even when they are employed, they switch jobs frequently (Howlin et al. 2004). On the other hand, studies have shown that individuals with ASD may possess specific skills and abilities that are suited to certain jobs, and when they are appropriately employed and well supported, they seem to be capable of working effectively and being independent (de Schipper et al.2016). In addition, many individuals with ASD continue to live at home after completing school and getting older, and fewer than 10% live independently (Howlin et al. 2004). Even though they have to deal with their impairments throughout their lives, developing the ability to perform functional living skills on their own may enable them to take care of themselves, enhance their quality of life, and decrease their dependence on others (Hong et al.2016).
The effect of cue type on directive-following in children with moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder
Published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2021
Anna A. Allen, Howard C. Shane, Ralf W. Schlosser, Charles W. Haynes
A sample of 11 participants with ASD was recruited from patients being evaluated in an urban hospital in Massachusetts. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (a) a diagnosis of ASD by a developmental pediatrician; (b) a reported interest in electronic screen media based on the program’s standard intake questionnaire; (c) chronological age between 4 and 10 years, based on medical record; (d) difficulty following spoken directives of one or more steps, based on intake questionnaire or parent report; (e) no history of systematic instruction with SCs, based on parent report, intake questionnaire; (f) no uncorrected vision or hearing problems, based on medical record; (g) no other comorbid medical condition or neurological damage; (i) a passing score on a screening of match-to-sample (MTS) skills; (j) confirmed severity of autism symptomatology based on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale 2 Standard Version Rating Booklet (CARS2-ST) (Schopler et al., 2010); and (k) confirmed presence of comorbid intellectual impairment based on the Matrices subtest of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test 2 (KBIT-2) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2004).
Providing visual directives via a smart watch to a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder: an intervention note
Published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2020
Amanda M. O’Brien, Ralf W. Schlosser, Howard Shane, Oliver Wendt, Christina Yu, Anna A. Allen, Jacqueline Cullen, Andrea Benz, Lindsay O’Neill
The participant, Sophie (pseudonym), met the following inclusion criteria: (a) primary diagnosis of ASD (as diagnosed by a pediatric psychiatrist); (b) hearing and vision within normal limits (based on school records); and (c) strong interest in screen media (per teacher observations). The participant was part of a larger AAC study (Schlosser et al., 2020). She was selected as a candidate for this study by her instructors based on a strong interest in technology, prompt-dependency during directive-following, and literacy skills. She was 9-years-old, used limited speech (1- 3-word utterances) to request and comment, and benefited from a range of low- and high-tech AAC strategies to expand communicative functions and utterance length. She received a score in the 0.3rd percentile (standard score of 58) on the Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition (EVT-2; Williams, 2007) and a score in the 0.3rd percentile (standard score of 59) on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition, (PPVT-4; Dunn & Dunn, 2007). Regarding the participant’s reading skills, her teacher reported that she read at the second-grade level at the time of the study. She read fluently at the sentence level and could match pictures to their representative sentences. Additionally, she answered who, what, and where questions in response to two to three sentence long texts, given a single picture prompt. Prior to the study, the participant had been exposed to the use of a paper-based written schedule presented by communication partners (i.e., teaching assistant (TA), teachers, etc.) to support her directive-following during transitions.