Autism spectrum disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder it a social behaviour inadequacy condition that affects around 1 in every 100 people. It is diagnosed through the use of referral, for a formal assessment which will usually be multi-disciplinary. Autism spectrum disorder is an untreatable disorder however people with autism spectrum disorder can be helped through the use of intervention therapy and various medication. These therapies usually teach the child how to deal with various social situations, whereas medication is used to neutralise brain functions to do with autism spectrum disorder.

In 1911 the term autism was first coined, by a psychiatrist by the name of Eugne Bleuler. He used this term to describe patients with schizophrenic traits of withdrawing themselves from social contact. However in 1943 Leo Kanner suggested that, children who show certain personality characteristics suffer from Autism, it was this study that defined autism spectrum disorder as its own condition and not a branch of schizophrenia as previously thought. This was the development of autism as it is known today.

In 1944 Hans Asperger described four boys as being autistic, these boys had the traits of what it now known as Aspergers Syndrome.

Over time two of the main theories on the cognation of autism spectrum disorder were developed, one being the theory of mind (ToM) the other being weak central coherence (WCC). ToM is the is the capability to connect mental states, intents, beliefs, knowledge, pretending and desires. One of the most influential individuals to make pronouncements in the field of ToM concerning autism spectrum disorder was Alan Leslie. He proposed that children with autism lack ToM. This idea came from an experiment performed by Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Fr...

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...um disorder. Pellicano, Maybery, Durkin, & Maley (2006) contemplated that WCC can happen along side shortcoming in social cognation, rather than explaining them

Although both cognitive theories have their strengths and weaknesses both have made valid contributed to the understanding and treatment of ASD. Nonetheless both theories lack the ability to be generalised, this is due to the concept that ASD is a spectrum and it is difficult to generalise finding of studies when each individual shows unique autistic traits. Therefore both theories have reduced ecological validity, making it difficult to be applicable to the population. As for preference of theory I prefer WCC. This is because its accepts that individuals with ASD can have central coherence unlike ToM which does not take into account the individuals that did in fact successfully complete false belief tasks.