Behavior analysis has long been a field which has rooted itself in science and observable, measurable behavior, long avoiding the subject of private events such as thoughts and emotions and largely focusing applied work with individuals with disabilities. However, the prevalence of anxiety and depression among adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD) is an issue which can hinder the development of social relationships and success in higher education. The current study used a pre- post- group design to evaluate the efficacy of implementing two components of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with adolescents and young adults with ASD to change the function of verbal statements made about the self while discussing a negative thought. Additionally, participants wore a biofeedback wristband to measure their heart rate while discussing the thought before and after completing either an acceptance + defusion activity or a control activity. The findings of this study suggest that an acceptance + defusion activity was effective in increasing pragmatic statements and statistically significant in decreasing unworkable statements. Although the findings regarding the changes in heart rate were not statistically significant, future studies should continue to investigate ACT's effects of private events such as thoughts, feelings, self-rules, and physiological processes. With limited research within the field of behavior analysis focusing on using ACT with individuals with ASD and DD, the results of this study support a clinical utility of ACT to improve the lives of individuals with ASD.

Theory of mind (ToM) describes the ability to represent internal mental states. We propose that using ToM in practice depends upon the interplay of social, cultural and cognitive factors. The argument is divided into two parts. First, we studied whether people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may have deficits, which impair acquisition of the cultural knowledge necessary to use ToM in practice. The acquisition of shared beliefs, such as social norms, might indirectly rely on metarepresentational capacities. Moreover, a piecemeal processing style - Weak Central Coherence (WCC) - might translate into difficulties in the acquisition of scripts of routine events, which are normally represented as holistic, hierarchically organised knowledge structures. In four experiments we show, first, that WCC may be specific, but not universal to individuals with ASD and that WCC and ToM deficits frequently overlap. Of the ASD group with different levels of ToM abilities, only those with ToM deficits had greater impairments in drawing inferences from social norms than matched control groups. Script abnormalities ranged from a profound lack of event knowledge to more subtle qualitative peculiarities. Especially ASD with WCC and ToM deficits showed a tendency to treat optional and very specific event acts that could occur as should be occurring. The second part of the argument investigated whether power relations affect ToM usage in ordinary adults. A method to track and categorise ToM in ordinary talk was developed to study adults' accounts of real-life experiences in multi-cultural settings. Key findings were that the quality and quantity of ToM talk differed when people accounted for experiences of situated powerlessness (that is, experiences of being discriminated against) compared to when they considered episodes in which power relations were equal. Preliminary data from an experimental study suggests that adults were more inaccurate in inferring the mental states of less powerful as opposed to equally powerful others. We conclude by suggesting that an integrated social, cultural and cognitive framework of ToM in practice may contribute to our understanding of the social phenotype of ASD as well as it provides a new perspective on social phenomena such as intergroup relations.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are defined in terms of qualitative atypicalities in social communication and interaction in the presence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests and activities (RRBs). Part of the main criteria for RRBs is hyper/hypo reactivity to sensory input, which appear to be particularly prevalent in the auditory domain and could result in atypical behaviours (APA, 2013). Despite the crucial role that sensory processing plays in learning, attention, cognitive and brain maturation, emotional regulation, and social communication development in humans (e.g., Ahn et al., 2004; Bundy et al., 2007), it remains unclear what precisely causes the sensory atypicalities observed in ASD or how they are associated with the development of key autistic symptomatology such as impairments in social communication (e.g., Jones et al., 2009; Leekam Prior & Uljarević, 2011). Thus, the main aim of the present thesis is to explore the nature of the auditory sensory issues and their relationship with core symptoms (i.e., RRBs and communicative ability) in ASD and the broader autism phenotype (BAP). In addition, the associations among speech perception and production, and communication were investigated. Four studies were conducted using adult samples with and without ASD. Chapter 2 reports findings indicating that the perception of intensity and frequency auditory parameters influence the severity of RRBs and that primary auditory discrimination abilities are characterised by high variability in ASD. Chapters 3 & 4 present evidence showing that the relationship between auditory intensity perception and sensation avoiding behaviours contribute to the communicative difficulties observed in adults with ASD or high levels of autistic traits. Chapter 5 provides a direct demonstration of deficits on primary syllable stress perception in ASD and its role on the speech production abnormalities and socio-communicative atypicalities in ASD. Taken together, the outcome of these investigations highlights the importance of considering the development of core autistic symptoms as an interactional multi-developmental process, which extends into the general population.

Autistic symptoms appear to change during adolescence. This study replicates an earlier one (McCallon, 1985) which attempted to validate the use of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) with adolescents. The standard observation method of administration was used. Additionally, information obtained in structured parent interviews was used to score a CARS. Subjects were nine autistic and nine nonautistic retarded adolescents from 13 to 21 years of age. Results suggested that the CARS, administered either way, validity discriminates between retarded adolescents who are diagnosed as autistic and those with other handicaps. Methodological limitations of the present study are discussed.

No description available.

Imitation is a core deficit often observed in children diagnosed with autism. Video modeling has been shown to be effective for teaching children with autism a variety of skills, but there is little research demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique with core skills such as imitation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a video modeling intervention to teach a preschool-age child with autism to imitate novel and acquired actions (with and without objects) in natural contexts (i.e., songs and toy play activities). A general case approach was used to examine the instructional universe of common preschool songs in order to select the exemplars that were most likely to facilitate generalization. In addition to video modeling, additive components that included highlighting the critical features of the video examples and prompting/fading were required to demonstrate a functional relationship. Experimental control was evident in a multiple baseline design across three imitation activities. The results are discussed with reference to previous research, future research directions, and implications for practice in educational settings. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This phenomenological research study explores the lived experience of an Asperger syndrome (AS) diagnosis, particularly focusing on the impacts of diagnosis. The proposed sample included seven co-researchers, four women, three men, with lived experiences of an AS diagnosis. Asperger syndrome is a lifelong developmental disability (APA, 1994). Using Colaizzi's phenomenological methodology (1978), a total of twelve themes emerged from the data. These themes are produced in an exhaustive description, this displays the lived experiences of an AS diagnosis. The analysis displayed a total of 12 themes: Impact of diagnosis leading to changes in social and family relationships; Feelings arising from diagnosis; Personal changes through diagnosis; Impact of a diagnosis an inhibiting factor; Personal changes in identity and similarity with others; Feeling arising before diagnosis; Accessibility to Autism services; Feelings arising from child's diagnosis; Impact of child's diagnosis leading to changes in family, social and intimate relationships; Personal changes in identity through a mother and carer role; Uncertainty about future; Lack of psychological & emotional support. The co-researchers reported a change in identity and relationship(s) with others. Coresearchers reported a lack of psychological support provided after the AS diagnosis. This shows an urgent need for psychological therapy among this client group. I propose Counselling Psychologists can fulfil this need and offer a range of support through different means including post-diagnostic follow-ups, counselling (postdiagnosis) and ongoing group support. These findings will be discussed in detail.

Background: Play impairments in autism are intrinsic to its definition but there is continuing debate about whether they are specific to symbolic play or found across all play behaviours. In typically developing children, play development is strongly linked to other aspects of development, to the quality of caregiving behaviour and attachment relationships; however, these associations are less well characterised in autism. Three previous empirical studies have found links between play and attachment quality in autism similar to those in typical development. Additionally, a number of recent studies have investigated patterns of child attachment in autism, finding a range of attachment styles, which argue against primary attachment difficulties in the disorder. Rationale: This study aimed to i) make a detailed study of the early development of play in autism; ii) explore for the first time the role of caregiver play; iii) extend the small literature on the relationship between child play and child attachment. Method: 49 children aged two and five years diagnosed with core autism were group-matched with 45 neurotypical children on gender and non-verbal development. Detailed structured video-coding of both child and caregiver play in a naturalistic setting was made at baseline (T1), after seven months (T2), and after 13 months (T3), using Noldus Observer. Child attachment behaviour was assessed using the Brief Attachment Screening Questionnaire at T1 and T3. Results: Children with autism showed similar patterns of play change over time to controls but at a delayed rate; with more simple exploratory play and reduced advanced functional play at all three timepoints and reduced symbolic play development identified by T3. Group differences were also found in caregiver play. Quality and complexity of child and caregiver play were largely associated. Emergence of more advanced forms of child play in both groups was predicted by level of previous child play; and also level of caregiver play, but only if it was developmentally appropriate. Children with autism showed similar responses to caregiver behaviour as typical children, despite their core social impairments. By contrast, simple play reduced over time in both groups irrespective of the nature of caregiver play. There were group differences in child attachment behaviours at T1 and T3. However, attachment quality showed no relationship to child play development. Conclusions: The play of children with autism was generally delayed compared to controls, with no evidence of a specific delay in symbolic play. In both autism and typical development, emergence of more complex forms of play was predicted by developmentally sensitive caregiver play, consistent with the Vygotskian theory of a 'zone of proximal development'. Developmental reduction in simple play however was independent of caregiver, consistent with Piagetian theory of children as 'lone scientists' in this context. Child attachment and play quality were not specifically related.

Research suggests children with autism gravitate towards visual rather than social communication, and do so with a leveled understanding. For example, studies show, children with ASD receive a black and white cartoon drawing differently than a color photograph. Based on this notion, this study explores a form of art making with photographs as a foundation to facilitate artistic expression and communication. Children and their immediate families were photographed against a white background. These photographs were printed out and given to the child to “finish” the picture with whatever material they find comfortable. A total of two participants were included in this study. One participant produced three drawings on photographs and the other produced four paintings on photographs. The final products suggest that this method of combining the photographic level of understanding with a free-form method of communication—art—may be of significant use to facilitating an alternative form of communication for children with autism.

This qualitative study attempted to capture the experiences of parents of children with high-functioning autistic spectrum disorders participating in child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT). Parents of children with high-functioning autistic spectrum disorders (HFASD) are prone to experiencing stress in the parent-child relationship due to difficulty in social understanding and rigid behavioral patterns often found among children with HFASD. Moreover, parents of children with HFASD may feel challenged to find suitable interventions that are time-limited, affordable, and appropriate for parents and children with HFASD. Because no research currently investigates the perceived acceptability of CPRT for parents of children with HFASD, it was decided that a qualitative study would best capture the experiences of parents of children with HFASD participating in CPRT to understand more fully whether CPRT is an appropriate intervention for these parents. Four parents and one grandparent were interviewed prior to and following their participation in 10 sessions of CPRT. Thematic analysis of the pre- and post-intervention interviews as well as the 10 CPRT sessions revealed eight themes related to the parents overall experience of CPRT and change in the parent, child, and parent-child relationship: understanding of CPRT concepts, reactions to CPRT, group dynamic, child characteristics, parent characteristics, knowledge and experiences with HFASD, family context, and parent-child relationship. The emerging themes indicated that the five participants found CPRT to be a useful intervention for developing skills to deal with child-behavior concerns related to HFASD. The participants also reported developing a better understanding of their children with HFASD and four parents reported increased closeness in the parent-child relationship. The implications for this research are that CPRT may offer parents of children with HFASD a time-limited intervention that meets their needs as parents, as well as possibly helping parents and children with HFASD develop increased closeness in the parent-child relationship.