The Differences between High-Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome - Assignment Example

Critical Review In his talk, ‘Onset and development of Language in Children with autism spectrum disorder’, Steven Stagg looks at the differences between High-Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome in relation to onset and development of language in children. The writer looks at the onset and development of language in children with autism spectrum disorder. He starts by explaining what autism in relation to language development. Autism is characterised by impairment in social interaction, abnormalities in communication and restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests and activities. Since autism is not a single disorder but a spectrum of closely related disorders, it is useful to make a distinction of the spectrum of disorders from low functioning to high functioning based on IQ. This helps in distinguishing from autism disorder, Asperger Sydrome (AS) versus High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and pervasive developmental disorder. The differentiation is mainly observed in social tasks and executive functioning tasks. Children suffering from AS have a better understanding of belief terms in language, that is think, know and guess, and they have less social impairments than those suffering from HFA. In a play ground setting, children with AS are more likely to approach other people in the play ground setting. When given executive functioning tasks, children with AS are better at switching from global to local than those with HFA and they are more flexible generational tasks. The key element separating HFA and SA is language onset. To measure this, it is important to look at the kind of IQ level both in the children that have a typical language onset and those that have a delayed language onset. The question to ask in looking at these differences is why some children have delayed language onset yet they develop similar IQ levels to the children who do not experience delay. The writer attributes the differences in language developments to the criteria used to differentiate the two groups. Studies have shown that getting the right input in early development is needed for typical brain functioning. Attention to social objects is important in language development. Khul (2003) asserts that social contact is important in language learning. Joint attention is a major precursor to language development (Carpenter et al., 1998). A study by Tadic et al (2010) revealed that partially sighted infants follow a similar developmental trajectory to children with ASD. Attention to social objects is an important factor in language onset and development. To differentiate between children with HFA and AS, it is important to observe patterns of social attention. Studies observing the reaction time between face to face and back to back responses show that the stronger the preference towards interacting faces, the earlier the onset of the first words. Attention preference to salient social stimuli affects other areas of social processing. One factor that underlies the attentional preference is arousal. arousal level is associated language level and patterns of eye contact. The writer points out that social attention, when observed through language onset, differentiates HFA and AS children. Since autism is a not a single disorder but a spectrum of closely-related disorders, the method of differentiation through language onset is an excellent method. To determine whether there is a problem in language development between autistic children and other children, then it is important to look at the basic underlying factors in language development. This is a strong feature in the research. A limitation of using the IQ is that children with the AS may develop an IQ just like those that do not have the disorder. Therefore it would be difficult to determine if a child had autism by just considering the IQ. However a looking at other factors that are important to language development is important to explaining that autism is not solely responsible for delayed language development. The focus on attention to social objects as an important factor in language onset and development is key. This is because the patterns can differentiate between a case of AS and HFA. Employing the reaction time study is a good way of determining the level of autism disorder in the spectrum. The discussion of the factors that determine attentional preference, for social images explains that arousal levels determine language level. This is a good way of differentiating between the levels of disorder in the autism spectrum. The limitation of the study is that it measures the differences in the HFA and AS but does in the onset and development of language but does not show the process of language development. The topic was about the development of language onset and developments. Although the study shows the factors that determine language onset and development the methods used only measure the differences that are observed in the spectrum. If the study was not a comparative one, then it would be difficult to determine ways of identifying a child with asperger syndrome. This is because those children have an understanding of belief terms in language, have less social impairments and they do not have major impairment in social interaction. The speaker failed to identify other areas that further research can be done. Studies that would probe other areas where autistic children elicit deficiencies are important. In addition studies that compare children with autism and those without would show differences in language development and onset. In conclusion, Dawson et al., (2002) says that “The prevalence of social attention problems in autism has led to many to suggest that these may be the root of the development of the disorder” (p. 248). That validates the use of social attention and the factors involved to in language development as a measure between HFA and AS. One of the characteristic of autism is avoiding eye contact. Therefore determining reaction time in the face-to-face orientation and the back to back orientation is a good way to measure the difference between high-functioning autism and asperger syndrome. One thing erupts from this measurement is that the stronger the preference towards interacting faces, the earlier the onset of first word. A strong feature of the scientific approach of measuring is also looks at t he factors that contribute to attentional preference. Arousal is associated with patterns of eye contact in infancy. The method realised that the arousal level is associated with current language level. This provides a good way to measure the differences in high functioning autism and asperger syndrome. The statistics provide the validity of the assertion that the patterns of social attention between the two groups show both qualitative and quantitative difference. The statistics also illustrate that when divided on the basis of language onset, patterns of social attention differentiates high functioning autistic children and those who have the asperger syndrome disorder. A further strength of the method is to correlate the social measures used with language levels. This correlation proves that social attention, believed to be the root of autism correlate with language levels and, to some extent, the onset of language. A further criticism of the method used; single words used by age 2 years and communicative phrases used by age 3 years. This is a small representation of language development and competence. His data dwell more on language development but does not reveal much about the language onset. Furthermore, since his introduction involves a classification, it would have been important to explain language onset and development in a case of pervasive development disorder. But apparently, his study concentrates in differentiating between high functional autism and asperger syndrome. Generally, defining autism is one of the challenging things that scholars go through. The fact that it is a spectrum requires a differentiation to determine at what level autism is classified to be asperger syndrome, high-functional or pervasive developmental disorder. The methods used in this research provide a good way of differentiating between the two types of autistic disorders. The statistics provided are viable and they authenticate the assertions the researcher makes. The conclusions drawn are supported by the findings of the research that has been carried out. The way the talk was presented is very effective. A research talk cannot be authentic without the provision of the statistical data that supports the researcher’s points of view. The use of visual aids like the pictures to illustrate patterns of social interactions between the two groups helps a presentation because it allows the audience to get the message more clearly. Verbal presentation is effective is done in a language that everyone can easily understand and relate to. The writer used easy to understand language, easily interpreted statistical data and good organization of the information. In addition, he presented the studies he had used for his study which is very helpful to anyone who wants to probe such a study further or clarify ideas. His conclusion reviews, in a summary, what his talk was about. This helps the audience to remember the main point of the research. References Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., Tomasello, M., Butterworth, G., & Moore, C., (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence drom 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the society for research in child development, Vol. 63, No. 4. Dawson, G., Carver, L., Meltzoff, A, Panagiotides, H., McPartland, J., & Webb, S., (2002). Neural correlates of face and object recognition in young children with autism spectrum disorder development delay, and typical development. Child development, may/June 2002, vol.73, No.3 pg. 700-717. Khul, P., (2003). Born to learn: language, reading, and the brain of the child. Paper presented at the Colorado early learning summit: Denver, Colorado. Tadic, V.,Pring, l., & Dale, N., (2010). Are languages and social communication intact in children with congenital visual impairment at school age. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry 51: 6, pp. 696- 705. Read More