This diploma thesis provide a comprehensive list of information about the attitudes of parents towards education of children with autism spectrum disorders. The aim of this thesis is to determine how the parents receive a diagnosis of autism of their children and how they determine the access to education for their children as well. The theoretical part is based on literature, there are defined basic information about autism spectrum disorder, division of autism, causes symptoms of autism and finally information about parents with disabled children. This issue is focused to main autism spectrum disorders. There is mentioned technical assistance to families with ASD. Qualitative research, phenomenological approach and semi-structured interview designed to attitudes of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Are used in the empirical part. Research shows the acceptance and coping with a diagnosis of autism, and changes to the education of children with ASD. Practical part was created on the basis of theoretical knowledge, my personal experience and research questions. Thesis seeks a comprehensive and updated overview of the attitudes of parents towards education of children with autism spectrum disorder. KEYWORDS Autism Spectrum Disorder, Parents, Childres with autism spectrum disorder,...

The thesis concerns the topic of parental care for children with autism spectrum disorder. In the theoretical part there are described the main areas in which the autistic spectrum disorders manifest and the description of particular disorders. Next chapter describes this issue from point of view of parental care, it describes the difficulty of the situation, the impact on the lives of parents and whole families, factors affecting the adaptation to the situation and its overall management. The qualitative study was chosen for the research. The sample is composed of 11 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Data for study was collected by half-structured interviews and supplemented by Logo-test. The results of study describe the impact of care for a child with autism spectrum disorder to the lives of parents, emotions in different situations, stressing and supporting aspects of the situation, scarce factors and external factors which the most affect the situation of parents. It seems that the situation causes numerous of changes in the lives of parents and affects their values and attitude to life. Difficulty of the situation is perceived in the area of time managment, psychological, physical and financial area. In the same time there are strong supporting factors, mainly family and...

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Aims: The aims of this thesis were two-fold. First, to review the literature related to parental perceptions regarding their child’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its effect on behavioural or emotional outcomes. Second, an empirical study aimed to explore parental beliefs about their child’s Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) through the application of Q methodology. Method: A systematic review of the literature was carried out to address the first aim. The review included 7 studies; 5 quantitative and 2 mixed methodology studies. For the second aim, Q methodology was used to examine parental beliefs among a purposeful sample of 21 main caregivers of a child with AS. This methodology is based on two techniques: the q-sorting process and q-factor analysis, and aims to explore the understandings those caregivers’ have of their child’s AS. A set of 51 statements, representing a diverse range of opinions and perspectives on AS, was developed from a variety of sources, including bibliographic databases and online parent forums. The Q sorting process involved caregivers’ arranging the statements on a quasi-normal distribution grid based upon their agreement with them. Results: Preliminary conclusions were drawn from a synthesis of papers included in the systematic review: parental beliefs regarding their child’s ASD affects their behaviour regarding treatment options and future immunisations, as well as their experience of depression, anxiety and self-efficacy. The empirical study revealed four narratives or factors from completed Q sorts: (1) AS in a positive light, (2) AS- the default diagnosis, (3) AS- what now? and (4) AS as society’s problem. Conclusions: The results from the systematic review and empirical study highlight a variety of beliefs held by parents of children with ASD. Although the implications of such beliefs were not explored in the empirical study, the results of the systematic review suggest that parental beliefs can have a significant impact on behavioural and psychological outcomes. Parental beliefs may, therefore, be an important target for clinical intervention within child and family services. It is acknowledged that further research is required to confirm and develop these findings.

The current study examined anxiety and its observable correlates in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) across a broad range of levels of cognitive functioning that in the past have not been accurately explored. I sought to challenge the assumption that there is a positive linear relationship between anxiety and level of cognitive functioning by including individuals across a broad range of cognitive functioning in my analyses, and by developing a measure (The Somatic Anxiety Scale) appropriate for assessing anxiety symptoms in children with little to no communicative functioning. Sixty-seven parents of children with ASD aged 5 to 12 completed a battery of measures in an online study assessing their child’s anxiety, repetitive behaviours, sensory processing issues, and adaptive functioning. The Somatic Anxiety Scale was significantly correlated with an existing measure of anxiety designed for verbal children (when only highly verbal children were assessed), suggesting that it may provide a foundation to develop a measure of anxiety symptoms in non-verbal individuals. No clear predictive relationship was observed between level of cognitive functioning and anxiety. Both lower and higher-order repetitive behaviours predicted anxiety, although higher-order behaviours were more predictive. Finally, a cluster analysis indicated three patterns of anxious behaviour divided across three categorizations of level of functioning. I suggest that previous assumptions about the relationship between level of cognitive functioning and anxiety may be underestimating the complexity of the relationship and suggest future research to study this relationship further. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2013-10-30 10:25:56.049

Research on the neural bases of cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown that working memory (WM) difficulties are associated with abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex. However, few studies have examined the impact of cognitive load on WM and its neural underpinnings in children and adolescents. We used fMRI and an n-back task with four levels of difficulty to compare the cortical activation patterns associated with WM in children with and without ASD across cognitive load. Findings revealed impaired modulated activity as a function of cognitive load in prefrontal and parietal cortices in children with ASD relative to typical controls. Results suggest that children with ASD rely mainly on posterior brain regions associated with lower-level visual processing, whereas controls showed activity in frontal lobes related to the classic WM network. Findings will help guide future longitudinal work by localizing areas of vulnerability to developmental disturbances.

Research on the neural bases of cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown that working memory (WM) difficulties are associated with abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex. However, few studies have examined the impact of cognitive load on WM and its neural underpinnings in children and adolescents. We used fMRI and an n-back task with four levels of difficulty to compare the cortical activation patterns associated with WM in children with and without ASD across cognitive load. Findings revealed impaired modulated activity as a function of cognitive load in prefrontal and parietal cortices in children with ASD relative to typical controls. Results suggest that children with ASD rely mainly on posterior brain regions associated with lower-level visual processing, whereas controls showed activity in frontal lobes related to the classic WM network. Findings will help guide future longitudinal work by localizing areas of vulnerability to developmental disturbances.

Selective eating (SE) refers to an individual narrowing their range of preferred foods, resulting in a restricted food intake, high levels of rigidity and food refusal (Bryant-Waugh, 2000). SE is encompassed in the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-V) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) category avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Such difficulties are common in children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Raiten & Massaro, 1986) and neuropsychological differences have been found in children with ASD (Hill, 2004). This research aimed to be the first to investigate whether a distinct neuropsychological profile exists in children and adolescents with SE and furthermore, whether aspects of the profile vary depending on whether the child or adolescent displays elevated autistic traits. A case series of 10 children between the ages of 8 to 13 years old were recruited. A well-established neuropsychological test battery, the Ravello Profile (Rose, Frampton & Lask, 2012), was modified and administered to assess visuospatial processing, central coherence, executive functions (including cognitive flexibility, inhibition and planning) and theory of mind abilities. The results demonstrated a high degree of variability across the group in terms of visuospatial processing and theory of mind, weak central coherence across all participants and otherwise relatively intact abilities in executive function domains. There were no substantive findings in relation to those children with elevated autistic traits although a trend toward visuospatial processing differences did emerge. This exploratory case series was the first attempt to describe a neuropsychological profile in SE, however the small sample size and high variability in the data meant that a distinct neuropsychological profile did not emerge. The results did however provide an initial indication of possible trends in strengths and weaknesses across neuropsychological domains in SE. These findings have implications for the assessment and treatment of SE difficulties.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) per DSM-5 criteria are characteristically limited in their ability to interact socially due to conversational speech delays. Typically, children with ASD experience a more constrained number of appropriate initiations and responses in conversations with peers. Previous research has shown the benefits of using scripted language to increase verbalizations in these children. However, limited research has been conducted on the use of technology to increase social interactions between children with ASD. This study will be based on hypotheses and results from the dissertation, “Teaching Conversational Speech to Children with Autism Using a Text Message Intervention” by Denise Grosberg. Grosberg evaluated the performance of a text message intervention (TMI) procedure using scripted language to teach conversational speech with typically developing peers. The present study used a multiple baseline design across dyads to again assess the efficacy of a text message intervention between dyads of children with ASD, including younger and lower-functioning participants. Results demonstrated an increase in appropriate conversational speech through the TMI and an increase in unscripted language following the intervention. Seven of the participants generalized the behavior across peers and settings as well as after a two-week follow-up period. Data are discussed in terms of the percentage of appropriate phrases used, as a function of appropriate phrases, inappropriate phrases, and the number of times a participant did not respond.

The aim of this study was to procure knowledge about how members of families, where one of the members is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, described the mutual relationships, and also how the same family members experienced the response of the society. The study is qualitative and based on ten Swedish autobiographical texts written by different family members. The texts have been analysed through theories by both Salvador Minuchin and Erving Goffman. The result of the study showed that family members, regardless of if it was a sibling, a child, a parent or the person that was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder itself, described a quantity of different emotions about the family relationships in which they were part of. The emotions were described in both positive and negative terms. The family members described the response of the society as varying, they met both condemnatory comments and lack of understanding but also helpfulness, openness and love.