Autism: Beyond Theory of Mind - Term Paper Example

Running Head Autism Autism Autism is one of the psychological problems affects many aspects of how a child sees the world and learns from his or her experiences. Children with autism lack the usual desire for social contact. The attention and approval of others are not important to them in the usual way. Autism is not an absolute lack of desire for affiliation, but a relative one. Researchers and psychologists try to define, explain and characterize autism and an autistic child using different theories and methods. The most popular theories are (1) "the theory of mind", (2) the central coherence theory, (3) the extreme male brain theory, (4) the mindblidness theory and (5) the executive dysfunction theory. Autism is the best recognized and most frequently occurring form of a group of disorders collectively known as the pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). "It is diagnosed on the basis of abnormal social development, abnormal communicative development, and the presence of narrow, restricted interests, and repetitive activity, along with limited imaginative ability" (Baron-Cohen 1999). Autism is the result of an abnormality in the structure and function of the brain. Although technology still does not allow researchers to see much of how nerve cells grow or come together in the brain, or how information is passed from nerve to nerve, there is increasing evidence that the problems associated with autism and the other forms of PDD are the result of structural differences in the brain that arise during pregnancy--either due to something that injures the brain or due to a genetic factor that interferes with typical brain growth (Frith 1993). The capacity to understand that others think the same way you do is a capacity called "theory of mind". Autistic children are very slow to develop even a partial theory of mind, and many never really develop it at all. Hand-leading is also used by other language-handicapped children, and by deaf children, but when they hand-lead, they combine gaze between the parent and the object with the hand-leading, making it a more social activity. Closely related to the observation that autistic children do not point or develop a theory of mind at the usual time is the observation that autistic children lack social referencing. Social referencing is an early form of social behavior that every parent recognizes: Usually social referencing first appears when the baby is about six to eight months old. "The theory of mind suggests that the key social, communicative and imaginative impairments which characterize this disorder result from an inability to represent mental states" (Frith et al 1994, p. 108). In thinking about the nonverbal communication of an autistic child, it is important to distinguish between nonverbal cues that the responsive parent just knows how to read (like a little boy who keeps playing, but holds the front of his pants when he has to go potty) versus intentional messages that the child is sending to the adult (like a little boy who looks at his mom with a pained expression and wiggles up and down while holding the front of his pants). True nonverbal communication involves a type of "mind-reading"--knowing that what you're thinking is somehow going to be conveyed to someone else through you facial expressions or gestures, and without the use of words. The main limitation of this theory is that simply put, a theory of mind is the belief or "theory" you hold that others have a "mind" capable of understanding things the same way your mind does. A lack of theory of mind results in unawareness of others' thoughts and feelings, and so contributes to the lack of interest on the part of autistic children in sharing their triumphs and failures with significant adults (Frith and Happe, 1994). Another theory of autism is the extreme male brain theory. "The model depends on the notion of there being a "male brain", defined psychometrically" (Baron-Cohen 1999, p. 24). Researchers suppose that females and males and differ in cognition: "females are show faster levels of level development and a lower risk for specific language impairment" (p. 25). These terms refer to the idea that it is possible for certain aspects of intelligence to develop unimpeded by the sources of brain dysfunction that have caused the autism. Like other signs of autism, having peculiar interests or abilities is a sign that not all children or adults with autism have. Some of the more elaborate interests or special abilities are found in the relatively small proportion of autistic people with little or no mental retardation accompanying their autism. "The above review therefore suggests that the 'male brain type' (as defined earlier) is likely to involve complex sex-by-laterality interactions" (Baron-Cohen 1999, p. 34). Even if this theory is true, no series of studies to date have consistently found any specific structural brain difference or unique genetic abnormality that appears to be the physical cause of autism. Depending on the definition of autism that is used, slightly more or slightly fewer children will be considered autistic (Frith et al 1994). The central coherence theory states that there is "the normal drive to integrate information into a context, or "Gestalt" (Baron-Cohen p. 17). The value of this theory is that it explains "holistic, piece-meal perceptual style characteristic" (Baron-Cohen p. 17). The main problem is that no two autistic children are alike, any more than two normally developing children are alike. There may be certain striking similarities between two children in terms of very behaviors, but because they differ in other ways, it does not mean that both cannot be autistic. In a child with autism, a very careful evaluation needs to be undertaken in making the diagnosis in order to understand what behaviors are part of the child's autism, what may be a reflection of some degree of mental retardation, what is the child's personality, and what is a reflection of the way the child acts as a means of compensating for his or her disability. "The mindblidness theory: suggests that social and communicative problems in development are signs of abnormality and autism. "The conclusion that children with autism are indeed impaired in this domain only becomes possible because of the convergence of results from widely differing experimental paradigms" (Baron-Cohen 1999, p. 5). Once there is a general fix on the child's nonverbal mental age (which a professional obtains through a combination of intelligence testing, observations of the child, and parent interviewing), it is possible to assess the child for the presence of autistic symptoms. The executive function theory claims that "executive function is the postulated mechanism which enables the normal person to shift attention flexibly, inhibit prepotent responses, generate goaldirected behaviour, and solve problems in a planful, strategic way" (p. 18). It is important for a professional to consider why the child does what he does, and explain the meaning of unusual behaviors to parents in terms of what the child is trying to accomplish through his actions. The main tests used for psychological evaluation and diagnosis are: "the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Tower of Hanoi, the Verbal Fluency Test and the Detour Reaching Test. If a child fails these tests, it is diagnosed as autistic. The main limitation of all theories is that to be diagnosed as having autistic disorder, using the psychological criteria mentioned above, a person must have positive signs on six out of the twelve criteria (Frith et al 1994). At least two of the criteria met must reflect difficulties in social development; two criteria must be met in the area of communication; and at least two criteria in the area of atypical activities and interests must also be met. Using nonverbal intelligence as a way of estimating an autistic child's general level of mental development is not a perfect indicator, but it does provide a basis for separating many of the effects of mental retardation from the autism itself. Nevertheless, the majority of autistic children have some degree of mental retardation along with their autism, so it is important to find a way to measure it separately from the symptoms of autism. This is because delays in development due to autism and delays in development due to mental retardation are not always treated in the same way. In the young autistic child, the predilection for this sort of behavior is first seen in the tendency of the child to make his own sense out of an object rather than to naturally apprehend how others might think of using that object. References 1. Baron-Cohen, B. (1999). The Extreme-Male-Brain Theory of Autism. This paper appeared in In Tager-Flusberg, H, (ed) Neurodevelopmental Disorders. MIT Press 2. Frith, U. (1993). Autism. Scientific American. June, pp. 108-114. 3. Frith, U., Happe, F. (1994). Autism: Beyond Theory of Mind. Cognition, 50, pp. 115-132. 4. Frith, U., Happe, F., Siddons, F. (1994). Autism and Theory of Mind in Everyday Life. Oxford UK. Read More