04 April 2010
ASD unraveling the enigma part 1
04/04/10 11:01 Filed in: Autism Spectrum Disorders
Uta Frith wrote a wonderful book in 1989 entitled “Autism Explaining the Enigma.” She published a second edition in 2003. She basically reviewed three theories that accounted for some aspects of ASD: theory of mind, weak central coherence, and impaired executive functioning. At the very end of the book she offered some ideas on possible connections between the three. She believes that al three theories implicate thinking processes that have something to do with self-consciousness. These are all due to neurologically-based cognitive deficits.
Nancy Minchew, continuing down the cognitive deficit path, thinks that a complex information processing model best explains ASD. She believes that the higher order neural system is under-developed leading to cognitive deficits in complex sensory, complex motor, complex memory, complex language, and concept formation. Intact areas include simple memory, formal language, rule learning, visual spatial processing, elementary motor, and sensory perception.
On the other hand as I wrote in my last blog (reflecting the work of Peter Hobson in England) ASD can be viewed as primarily an affective disorder -- people with ASD do not engage in affectively charged interactions with other people. They are lacking in self-other awareness.
Michael Tomaselo in his 2003 book entitled “Constructing a Language” identifies two important sets of human skills that are important for language acquisition: intention-reading and pattern-finding. Intention-reading includes such things as the ability to share attention with others, the ability to follow attention and gesturing of others to objects, the ability to actively direct the attention of others to objects by pointing and gesturing, and the ability to imitatively learn the intentional actions of others. Pattern-finding is the ability to form perceptual and conceptual categories based on the principle of sameness and the ability engage in relational thinking as epitomized by the use of analogies and metaphors. In other words processing information about relations between relations and not just judgements about same and different.
The enigma of ASD can thus be explained not by either affect or cognition weakness but by deficits in both areas. As such instruction needs to focus on teaching both intention-reading and pattern-finding skills. This is where the search will continue in future blogs -- further explicating the theory and research behind a dual pronged approach and delineating a scope and sequence that would address both areas.
Nancy Minchew, continuing down the cognitive deficit path, thinks that a complex information processing model best explains ASD. She believes that the higher order neural system is under-developed leading to cognitive deficits in complex sensory, complex motor, complex memory, complex language, and concept formation. Intact areas include simple memory, formal language, rule learning, visual spatial processing, elementary motor, and sensory perception.
On the other hand as I wrote in my last blog (reflecting the work of Peter Hobson in England) ASD can be viewed as primarily an affective disorder -- people with ASD do not engage in affectively charged interactions with other people. They are lacking in self-other awareness.
Michael Tomaselo in his 2003 book entitled “Constructing a Language” identifies two important sets of human skills that are important for language acquisition: intention-reading and pattern-finding. Intention-reading includes such things as the ability to share attention with others, the ability to follow attention and gesturing of others to objects, the ability to actively direct the attention of others to objects by pointing and gesturing, and the ability to imitatively learn the intentional actions of others. Pattern-finding is the ability to form perceptual and conceptual categories based on the principle of sameness and the ability engage in relational thinking as epitomized by the use of analogies and metaphors. In other words processing information about relations between relations and not just judgements about same and different.
The enigma of ASD can thus be explained not by either affect or cognition weakness but by deficits in both areas. As such instruction needs to focus on teaching both intention-reading and pattern-finding skills. This is where the search will continue in future blogs -- further explicating the theory and research behind a dual pronged approach and delineating a scope and sequence that would address both areas.