This dissertation provides an account of the ways seven preadolescent boys with autism spectrum disorders describe friendship. This study extends previous research by providing more in-depth descriptions of friendship gleaned through iterative interviews. In addition to multiple interviews with each of the boys, I collected interview data from their parents, and one teacher of each boy. In order to convey friendship from the boys' perspectives, I present data across three broad themes: (1) Establishing and maintaining friendships, (2) Social reciprocity, and (3) Conflicts. The findings indicate that some important components of close friendships, (i.e., frequent and varied interactions, relative equality and reciprocity, maintenance over an extended period of time, and emotional support), that are commonly included in descriptions of preadolescent relationships in the general literature were evident in the close friendships of these boys with autism spectrum disorders. Not only does this study help increase the understanding of the construct of friendship, but of autism spectrum disorders as well. Specifically, my findings challenge the deficit perspective of autism spectrum disorders in several ways: (1) these preadolescents described ways that they socialize with friends rather than ways to avoid social situations in favor of isolation (Kanner, 1943); (2) the majority described same-age friendships as opposed to failing to develop peer relationships (American Psychiatric Association, 2000); and (3) four boys either are developing or have developed social reciprocity with friends, instead of demonstrating a lack of social reciprocity (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Researchers are just beginning to understand how preadolescents with autism spectrum disorders describe friendships. This study provides an important addition to the extant literature by providing insight into how a small group of highly verbal, preadolescent boys labeled with autism spectrum disorders describe friendship. Further research is necessary and will add to the sparse body of literature that just begins to depict how people with autism spectrum disorders understand and experience friendship. / Ph. D.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are primarily defined by problems with social interaction and communication, but they are also associated with a complex cognitive profile. One area of difficulty for children and adults with ASD is problem-solving, or the process of identifying a solution to a puzzle or question where the answer is hidden. This can be seen on the Twenty Questions Task (TQT), a commonly-used measure of verbal problem-solving and executive functioning. Children with autism are consistently less efficient than typically-developing children in their questioning on the task: for instance, rather than ask a general, category-based question (e.g. “Is it a living thing?”) they may ask about single items (“Is it the dog?”) or very restricted groupings (“Is it something you wear on your feet?”). This has previously been interpreted as an example of a concept formation deficit in autism, deriving from underlying difficulties with complex and integrative information processing. However, success in problemsolving relies on a number of cognitive and linguistic processes that may be impaired in ASD. This thesis attempts to identify which of these may better explain autistic problem-solving performance, using the TQT as a specific example. The first experiment presented here examines the role of executive functioning difficulties in this profile. The performance of 22 children with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched typically-developing (TD) children was compared on a version of the TQT adapted to assess planning skills prior to problem-solving and selective attention during the task. Compared to controls, ASD participants were less efficient in their planning of questions, although not all ASD participants had difficulty constructing a plan. No specific effects of selective attention were evident. The second and third experiments explore the importance of atypical language development to this profile, using the example of deafness. Experiment 2 compares the performance of deaf (n = 9) and hearing (n = 27) adults on the TQT, replicating prior evidence of less efficient problem-solving in deaf graduate students. Experiment 3 contrasts TQT performance in 13 deaf schoolchildren with the ASD and TD data acquired in experiment 1. Like ASD children, deaf children were less efficient in their questioning than TD participants, even when controlling for cognitive ability differences. Both autism and deafness are associated with delays in early language development, whereas Asperger Syndrome (AS) is not. To test whether language delay explains autistic problem-solving difficulties, experiment 4 compares TQT performance in 15 children with autism, 15 AS children and 15 age- and IQ- matched typically-developing controls. Participants with autism asked less efficient questions than both AS and TD participants, between whom no differences were observed. This suggests that the problem-solving profile in autism may be better explained as a consequence of atypical language development, rather than other aspects of information processing or executive dysfunction.

No description available.

This study investigated the impact of family factors on individual differences in the social and emotional development of children with autism and their families. Based on the modifier model hypothesis suggested by Mundy, Henderson, Inge, and Coman (2007), family factors may serve as a modifier that contributes to the variability in the phenotypic presentation of children with higher functioning autism. Results indicated that Expressed Emotion (EE) was associated with parent-reported hyperactivity and anxiety in children and adolescents. Family cohesion was associated with parent-reported aggression and depression. These results differed for typically developing and HFA children; higher EE or lower cohesion was associated with greater impairment in the HFA group and less impairment in the typically developing children. Family factors were not associated with social symptoms, indicating these effects may be more related to the development of comorbidity than to the core symptoms of autism. Expressed emotion was related meaningfully to neutral attributions on the FMSS and provided validity for the measure. Family factors were not associated with parental stress, which was not expected. Implications for clinical interventions and future directions are discussed.

No description available.

Research shows that there is a gap between interest and experience in the area of sexuality for individuals with autism. Also, although these individuals have unique learning requirements pertaining to their sexuality, there is no consensus on the provision and content of such education. Using a socially inclusive theoretical lens founded on existing models of disability and competence, this bilingual study (a) developed a conceptual framework of sexuality education, as understood by adolescents living in Ontario with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and their caregivers; (b) used extant texts to support the conceptualization provided by youth and caregivers; and (c) identified personal strengths and barriers, as well as societal supports and barriers that impact sexuality education for these youth. Using a qualitative orientation, this study employed in-depth interviews, surveys, and a literature review to better understand the topic under investigation. Twenty participants from 8 families took part in these interviews, including 9 adolescents and 11 caregivers. Survey and extant textual-analysis data were used to support the findings. Sexuality education content was conceptualized as a combination of facts and sociosexual norms, with emphasis on outcomes. Additionally, safety and pleasure were identified as important content areas, including the historically absent aspect of shared enjoyment. Some content areas were part of a greater discourse of normalization. Sexuality education was seen as a combination of formal and informal activities that are developmentally appropriate, proactive, and take place across various settings and groupings. Caregivers were cited as the primary providers of informal education, whereas schools and other community partners were seen as formal providers of education. Various supports and barriers were identified, some of which were viewed as both. Themes related to media and technology pervaded all findings. This study provides further emic and etic understanding of the subject with implications for practice, policy, and theory.

Abstract Co-morbid emotional disturbances are not uncommon in individuals with Asperger syndrome (AS) especially during the tumultuous period of adolescence. The few empirical studies that exist have only examined treatment outcomes for anxiety and anger in individuals with AS during childhood but there are no available treatment studies for adolescents or adults. Therefore, this research project aimed to examine the efficacy of a modified cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) program for emotional disturbance in young people with a diagnosis of AS. Firstly, it was important to establish the need for treatment by examining the prevalence and presentation of emotional disturbance in this population. Secondly, an investigation of the role of pessimistic attributional style, negative problem orientation and social competence as risk factors for emotional disturbance helped to determine the suitability of CBT. It was also essential that an existing CBT program was modified to suit the cognitive profile of young people with AS. Finally, the efficacy of a modified CBT program was evaluated in a pilot study and randomised controlled trial. In the first study, 68 young people with existing diagnosis of AS between the ages of 11 and 23 years completed a battery of measures that assessed for AS characteristics, emotional disturbances, risk factors, and cognitive ability. The results of this study indicated that approximately 21%, 20% and 40% of young people reported elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and anger symptoms respectively. Furthermore, approximately 60% of young people reported elevated levels on at least one of the emotional disturbance measures (i.e., depression, anxiety or anger symptoms), while 40% of adolescents reported elevated levels on at least two. Therefore, the study suggests that there is a need to develop evidence-based treatment for young people with AS. In addition, significant associations were found between pessimistic attributional style, negative problem orientation and social competence, and emotional disturbance. Multiple regressions suggested that these risk factors account for approximately 54%, 39% and 25% of variance in depression, anxiety and anger respectively. These results are consistent with the literature for typically developing young people, and thus, cognitive-behaviour therapy typically used to treat mood and anxiety disorders in the general population should be efficacious for the AS population. Furthermore, CBT has been shown to be efficacious in treating anxiety and anger problems in children with AS. Although there are no existing CBT programs targeting depression in young people with AS, there are numerous CBT programs for typically developing young people. One example is the Aussie Optimism Program (AOP), an Australian adaptation of the Penn Prevention program which has a strong evidence-base for treating depression. Based on the AS literature, the program was modified to suit the cognitive profile of young people with AS. These modifications include providing affective education, using visual materials, small groups with high therapist to adolescent ratio, and other modifications to assist learning. Study Two piloted the modified program with three young people with AS. The pilot study provided some evidence that the modified Aussie Optimism reduced symptoms of emotional disturbance, but the sample size was too small to obtain clear results. In addition, observations from the pilot study were used to further modify the CBT program, which enhanced the structure and delivery of the program. The final modified CBT program consisted of six 2-hour sessions teaching young people to identify emotions and discriminate between different levels of emotional intensity; to cope with emotions; to identify and challenge negative thoughts; and to solve problems. Finally, a randomised controlled trial was used in Study Three to examine the efficacy of the modified CBT in treating depression in young people with AS. Given the high co-morbidity of emotional disturbance, the study also tested the efficacy of CBT program in reducing symptoms of anxiety and anger. Forty-four young people with AS were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 21) or the waitlist control (n = 23). The results of Study Three demonstrated that young people with high levels of depression and anger symptoms initially showed a significant reduction after the intervention, compared with the waitlist control group. Although anxiety levels reduced from time 1 to time 2 for the intervention group, the pattern of results was not statistically significant. Reliable change index (RCI) indicated that young people with high levels of symptoms at Time 1 showed meaningful clinical changes across measures of depression, anxiety and anger (parent and adolescent report) only in the intervention group (42-83%), but not in the waitlist control group (8-12%). Results in Study Three suggest that CBT modified to suit the cognitive profile of AS is efficacious in reducing depression and anger symptoms. Some of the methodological limitations of this study include a small sample size, attrition, participant variability, and a lack of longer-term follow-up. Despite these methodological limitations, these three studies provided strong evidence for the efficacy of CBT in treating emotional disturbance in young people with AS by establishing the need for an intervention, identifying the importance of the risk factors targeted by CBT, and demonstrating the efficacy of a modified CBT in reducing symptoms of emotional disturbance, specifically depression and anger, using a randomised controlled trial.

The thesis is dedicated to the life stories of adolescents with the Asperg syndrome and their problems in particular periods of development. The theoretical part describes every period of development from the prenatal period to the adolescence. In the next part the pervasive development and autistic spectrum defects are described, main focus is aimed to the Asperg syndrome. Subsequently problems of the family where the individual with the autism is involved, leisure time of the members of the family and their socialization are described. Practical chapter consists from the description, analysis and comparison of the problems of three chosen adolescents with Asperg syndrome.

Research shows that there is a gap between interest and experience in the area of sexuality for individuals with autism. Also, although these individuals have unique learning requirements pertaining to their sexuality, there is no consensus on the provision and content of such education. Using a socially inclusive theoretical lens founded on existing models of disability and competence, this bilingual study (a) developed a conceptual framework of sexuality education, as understood by adolescents living in Ontario with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and their caregivers; (b) used extant texts to support the conceptualization provided by youth and caregivers; and (c) identified personal strengths and barriers, as well as societal supports and barriers that impact sexuality education for these youth. Using a qualitative orientation, this study employed in-depth interviews, surveys, and a literature review to better understand the topic under investigation. Twenty participants from 8 families took part in these interviews, including 9 adolescents and 11 caregivers. Survey and extant textual-analysis data were used to support the findings. Sexuality education content was conceptualized as a combination of facts and sociosexual norms, with emphasis on outcomes. Additionally, safety and pleasure were identified as important content areas, including the historically absent aspect of shared enjoyment. Some content areas were part of a greater discourse of normalization. Sexuality education was seen as a combination of formal and informal activities that are developmentally appropriate, proactive, and take place across various settings and groupings. Caregivers were cited as the primary providers of informal education, whereas schools and other community partners were seen as formal providers of education. Various supports and barriers were identified, some of which were viewed as both. Themes related to media and technology pervaded all findings. This study provides further emic and etic understanding of the subject with implications for practice, policy, and theory.

This thesis examines young people’s preferences for social interaction with others perceived to be similar and different, and school staff’s interpretations of the young people’s social behaviour. The issue is explored with reference to a tension between social inclusion, the principle of embracing difference, and homophily, the sociological concept that similarity breeds connection. The idea of examining the two notions together was given by an analogy from aesthetics: as inclusion is understood as an ethical obligation to embrace difference, it may come into tension with people’s actual preferences for social interaction that can be represented by homophily. The project, influenced by personal construct psychology, focused on participants’ perceptions of similarity and difference. The tension was explored empirically using scenarios to conduct in depth semi-structured interviews with young people with Asperger syndrome, visual impairment and without disabilities, and school staff from mainstream and special settings. As the tension was expected to have an ethical dimension, the methods were influenced by research in moral psychology. According to the findings, homophily was consistent with the experiences of the participants in the study, and inclusion was considered to be an ethical obligation. The data also suggested that homophily and inclusion can come into a tension. This tension is evident in education, as students with disabilities or other differences might express a preference to be among similar others. School staff then would face the tension of respecting their preferences or enforcing inclusion, something that young people stressed would show lack of respect. As homophily can also conceal discrimination, the tension was not easily resolved. The matter is related to school policies about difference but, since it cannot be fully resolved by them, it can be related to a particular ethos that would recognise the role of open dialogue. Theoretically, the homophily/inclusion tension is one between individuality and commonality. It can challenge our understanding of what the ethical obligation to inclusion actually entails, and what treating the students respectfully should mean. Overall, it questions the justice of inclusion and opens a debate about participatory decision-making and democratic school management. The practical significance of the study can be located in the implications of the tension in the everyday school life. The particular approach to inclusion that the study suggests can be translated into appropriate training activities for the management of difference at school level. It can also inform school policies of inclusion and difference to acknowledge students’ preferences and tensions of values.