Autism Spectrum Disorders

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.

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

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. 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.