Psychological research into autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has
increased exponentially in the last two decades. Much of this work
has been led by various theorists who claim to have identified
processes that hold the key to understanding the condition. As a
consequence, newcomers to the field feel that they have to opt for
one or more of the competing approaches and to neglect the
remainder as being in some way wrong. In fact, the different
theoretical perspectives are just that – different points of view
on the same phenomenon – each with its own insights to offer. This
is not to say that understanding ASD in psychological terms is just
a matter of choosing a perspective and that all perspectives are of
equal value. Clearly they are not.
This book, in addition to providing an outline of what current
perspectives have to offer, also provides a framework to help
readers to decide which aspects of psychological research into ASD
contribute to our understanding of the field and how these can be
integrated in a way that enables research to be taken forward.
Innehållsförteckning
Preface ix
1 Identifying Autism: From Discrete Entity to Multidimensional Spectrum 1
Early conceptions: the ’autistic child’ 1
From discrete entity to spectrum of related conditions 5
Diagnostic systems and instruments 11
Dimensions versus entities: ’lumping’ versus ’splitting’ 16
Early detection 21
Conclusion 25
2 Understanding Other Minds: Cognitive Approaches 26
Understanding false belief: a specific mental module? 26
Understanding minds: a specific process or something else? 37
Provisional conclusions 49
3 Understanding Other People: Emotion and Interaction 51
Appraisal of emotion in others 53
Understanding the directedness of behaviour 60
Understanding others in autism: final conclusions 67
4 Beyond Social Impairment: Difficulties with Executive Functions 70
Implications of the executive dysfunction account for our understanding of ASD 81
Conclusion 88
5 Building a Coherent Picture of the World 90
Alternative explanations of WCC phenomena 98
Conclusion 111
6 Attention and Perception 113
Attention 113
Accounting for attentional difficulties 125
Conclusion 133
7 Specific Aspects of Understanding: Faces, Concepts and Memory 135
Face processing 135
Concept formation 145
Memory 152
Conclusion 165
8 Psychology, Autism and the Brain 167
Studies of brain size and structure 167
Lesion-based models of autistic behaviour 173
Theories of global brain dysfunction 175
Brain impairments inferred from more basic psychological processes 203
Conclusion 207
9 Development 209
Assumptions about development in ASD: psychometrics, matching and developmental delay 209
Developmental trajectories in ASD 212
Developmental change in two psychological domains: theory of mind and executive functions 219
Developmental theory and ASD 228
Conclusion 241
10 Whence and Whither: Glimpses of the Tapestry, Paths Through the Jungle 242
How far have we really come? 243
Stepping back to move forward? Emerging themes 247
Final thoughts 261
References 263
Index 299
Om författaren
Professor Dermot M Bowler, City University, London. Professor Bowler has published several articles in journals that include the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and Autism.
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