Die korrekte Wahrnehmung stimmlicher Information ist eine Grundvoraussetzung erfolgreicher zwischenmenschlicher Kommunikation. Die Stimme einer anderen Person liefert Information darüber wer spricht (Sprechererkennung), was gesagt wird (stimmliche Spracherkennung) und über den emotionalen Zustand einer Person (stimmliche Emotionserkennung). Autismus Spektrum Störungen (ASS) sind mit Einschränkungen in der Sprechererkennung und der stimmlichen Emotionserkennung assoziiert, während die Wahrnehmung stimmlicher Sprache relativ intakt ist. Die zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen dieser Einschränkungen sind bisher jedoch unklar. Es ist beispielsweise unklar, auf welcher Verarbeitungsstufe diese Einschränkungen in der Stimmenwahrnehmung entstehen oder ob sie mit einer Dysfunktion stimmensensitiver Hirnregionen in Verbindung stehen. Im Rahmen meiner Dissertation haben wir systematisch Stimmenverarbeitung und dessen Einschränkungen bei Erwachsenen mit hochfunktionalem ASS und typisch entwickelten Kontrollprobanden (vergleichbar in Alter, Geschlecht und intellektuellen Fähigkeiten) untersucht. In den ersten beiden Studien charakterisierten wir Sprechererkennung bei ASS mittels einer umfassenden verhaltensbezogenen Testbatterie und zweier funktionaler Magnet Resonanz Tomographie (fMRT) Experimente. In der dritten Studie untersuchten wir Mechanismen eingeschränkter stimmlicher Emotionserkennung bei ASS. Unsere Ergebnisse bringen neue Kenntnisse für Modelle zwischenmenschlicher Kommunikation und erhöhen unser Verständnis elementarer Mechanismen, die den Kernsymptomen in ASS wie Schwierigkeiten in der Kommunikation, zugrunde liegen könnten. Beispielsweise unterstützen unsere Ergebnisse die Annahme, dass Einschränkungen in der Wahrnehmung und Integration basaler sensorischer Merkmale (i.S. akustischer Merkmale der Stimme) entscheidend zu Einschränkungen in sozialer Kognition (i.S. Sprechererkennung und stimmliche Emotionserkennung) beitragen. / The correct perception of information carried by the voice is a key requirement for successful human communication. Hearing another person’s voice provides information about who is speaking (voice identity), what is said (vocal speech) and the emotional state of a person (vocal emotion). Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with impaired voice identity and vocal emotion perception while the perception of vocal speech is relatively intact. However, the underlying mechanisms of these voice perception impairments are unclear. For example, it is unclear at which processing stage voice perception difficulties occur, i.e. whether they are rather of apperceptive or associative nature or whether impairments in voice identity processing in ASD are associated with dysfunction of voice-sensitive brain regions. Within the scope of my dissertation we systematically investigated voice perception and its impairments in adults with high-functioning ASD and typically developing matched controls (matched pairwise on age, gender, and intellectual abilities). In the first two studies we characterised the behavioural and neuronal profile of voice identity recognition in ASD using two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments and a comprehensive behavioural test battery. In the third study we investigated the underlying behavioural mechanisms of impaired vocal emotion recognition in ASD. Our results inform models on human communication and advance our understanding for basic mechanisms which might contribute to core symptoms in ASD, such as difficulties in communication. For example, our results converge to support the view that in ASD difficulties in perceiving and integrating lower-level sensory features, i.e. acoustic characteristics of the voice might critically contribute to difficulties in higher-level social cognition, i.e. voice identity and vocal emotion recognition.

This diploma thesis focuses on the topic of problematic behaviour of pupils with autism and medium mental retardation in an educational process. The main aim of this work is to learn about and describe teaching staff's experience with the occurrence and ways of handling problematic behaviour of these pupils. The theoretical part describes the basic terms related to autism, mental retardation and it also outlines a historical context of autism, etilogy, its classification and characteristic symptoms. The thesis also focuses on the diagnostic process in the psychological and pedagogical diagnostics, an overview of basic obligatory diagnostic tools is provided. It deals with the legislative framework of the education of pupils with autism and medium mental retardation, it describes the most common educational methods and therapeutic approaches in special schools. Next chapter defines the term problematic behaviour, outlines the diagnostic evaluations and some specific approaches to correcting such behaviour. The practical research part is based on the qualitatively-oriented methodology and it works with data gained from 11 semi-structured interviews with the school deputy directors, special pedagogues - teachers, assistant teachers - educators from three elementary schools separately established for...

The main ideas behind this thesis include introducing the characteristics of the disorder known as Asperger syndrome, searching for help for individuals with this disability, looking at their engagement in society, and also helping teachers prevent and deal with existing conflicts. After a short introduction of pervasive developmental disorders, I focused on Asperger syndrome. I concentrated on the issue of communication, its abnormalities, and the concept and modes of communication in the disabled. At the same time, I tried to indicate possible ways to educate people with Asperger's. The thesis also looks at inclusion, its conditions and forms. At the end of this part, I outline ways to organize education and chart the education of teaching staff in the field of pervasive developmental disorders. The empirical part looks into teachers' awareness of the disorder, describes education of individuals with Asperger's in practice, and suggests ways to organize education of people with the syndrome.

This thesis aims on care for child with autism in family. First part is about psychological aspects and sums up klasification autistic disorder, diagnosis and importance of way how is diagnosis told to parents of disabled child. Furthermore this part charakterizes influence caring for child with autism on psychologic health of parents, discuses risks and protective factors which are important in overcoming problems that are connected with this situation. Second part describes social aspects which may influence decesion making of parents about way of caring for child with autism. There are explained opinions of public and church. Special attention is placed on families needs caring for child with autism. Third part discuses parental dilema in decesion about way of how to manage care for their child with autism and exlains some ethical issues of these decesions. There are a lot of factors determinating decesions of parents and the same factors can influence different families in completly different ways. If we sum up theoretical informations and practical experiences we can say that decesion of parents about care for their child cannot be objectively judged, it can be only accepted.

Graduation thesis deal about education children with autism in social care institutions. First part describes pervasive evolutionary disorders, it's etiology, clinical picture, diagnosis of autism and typical triads of disorder. This thesis also deals with institutions care, it's history and present situation in education care. Final part is research of social care institutions which take care persons with autism. Goal of the research is mapped situation education care for people with autism in social care institutions. Research methods are questionnaire, interview, content analysis. Research is complemented by case studies.

The main ideas behind the thesis include introducing the characteristics of the disorder known as Asperger syndrome, searching for help for individuals with this disability, looking at their engagement in society, and also helping teachers prevent and deal with existing conflicts. After a short introduction of pervasive developmental disorders, I focused on Asperger syndrome. I concentrated on the issue of communication, its abnormalities, and the concept and modes of communication in the disabled. At the same time, I tried to indicate possible ways to educate people with Asperger's. The thesis also looks at integration, its conditions and forms. At the end of this part, I outlined various ways to organize education and charted the education of teaching staff in the field of pervasive developmental disorders. The empirical part looks into teachers' readiness to work with individuals with Asperger syndrome, the training they undergo when studying at university, and their practical experience. KEYWORDS: Autism, Asperger syndrome, cognition, language, speech, memory, motivation, interests, rituals, game, triad of symptoms, social relations, imagination, integration

(in English): The goal of this thesis is to analyze mainly advantages of iPad use during lectures at special primary schools. In addition, the thesis takes a look at disadvantages of this style of education. The theoretical part includes the first four chapters. The main information source for this part is expert literature. The first step presents the basic terms from the field of education. The next step presents important information about mental retardation and autistic spectrum disorders, including the specific aspects of education of children with such mental disorders. Following are the characteristics of the iPad devices and the history of the device and its manufacturer, the Apple company. This part also includes other information and communication technology used for educational purposes at regular as well as special schools. Last chapter of this part excerpts advantages and disadvantages of iPad listed in used expert literature. The practical part uses the method of qualitative analysis, in the form of semi-structured interview to find out which positive and negative effects can iPad usage have for both parties involved - children and teachers. The analysis builds on the foundation laid in the theoretical part, checking how the answeres of the interviewees correspond to the contemporary...

Kommunikation ist allgegenwärtig in unserem Alltag. Personen mit einer Autismus-Spektrum-Störung (ASS) zeigen soziale Schwierigkeiten und beim Erkennen von Kommunikationssignalen von Gesicht und Stimme. Da derartige Schwierigkeiten die Lebensqualität beeinträchtigen können, ist ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis der zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen von großer Bedeutung. In der vorliegenden Dissertation befasste ich mich mit sensorischen Gehirnmechanismen, die der Verarbeitung von Kommunikationssignalen zugrunde liegen und, die in der Forschung zu ASS bisher wenig Beachtung fanden. Erstens untersuchte ich, ob eine intranasale Gabe von Oxytocin die Erkennung der Stimmenidentität beeinflussen, und ihre Auffälligkeiten bei Personen mit ASS mildern kann. Zweitens erforschte ich, welche neuronalen Prozesse den Schwierigkeiten in der Wahrnehmung visueller Sprache in ASS zugrunde liegen, da bisherige Evidenz nur auf Verhaltensdaten basierte. Diese Fragestellungen beantwortete ich mit Hilfe von funktioneller Magnetresonanztomographie, Eyetracking und Verhaltenstestungen. Die Ergebnisse der Dissertation liefern neuartige Erkenntnisse, die für Personen mit ASS und typisch entwickelte Personen von hoher Relevanz sind. Erstens bestätigen sie die Annahmen, dass atypische sensorische Mechanismen für unser Verständnis der sozialen Schwierigkeiten in ASS grundlegend sind. Sie zeigen, dass atypische Funktionen sensorischer Gehirnregionen den Kommunikationseinschränkungen in ASS zugrunde liegen und die Effektivität von Interventionen beeinflussen, die jene Schwierigkeiten vermindern sollen. Zweitens liefern die Ergebnisse empirische Evidenz für theoretische Annahmen darüber, wie das typisch entwickelte Gehirn visuelle Kommunikationssignale verarbeitet. Diese Erkenntnisse erweitern maßgeblich unser aktuelles Wissen und zukünftige Forschungsansätze zur zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation. Außerdem können sie neue Interventionsansätze zur Förderung von Kommunikationsfähigkeiten hervorbringen. / Communication is ubiquitous in our everyday life. Yet, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties in social interactions and to recognize socially relevant signals from the face and the voice. Such impairments can vastly affect the quality of life - a profound understanding of the mechanisms behind these difficulties is thus strongly required. In the current dissertation, I focused on sensory brain mechanisms that underlie the perception of emotionally neutral communication signals that so far have gained little attention in ASD research. I studied the malleability of voice-identity processing using intranasal administration of oxytocin, and thus the potential to alleviate voice-identity recognition impairments in ASD. Furthermore, I investigated brain mechanisms that underlie recognition difficulties for visual speech in ASD, as until now evidence on visual-speech recognition in ASD was limited to behavioral findings. I applied methods of functional magnetic resonance imaging, eye tracking, and behavioral testing. The contribution of the present dissertation is twofold. First, the findings corroborate the view that atypical sensory perception is a critical cornerstone for understanding of social difficulties in ASD. Dysfunction of visual and auditory sensory brain regions might contribute to difficulties in processing aspects of communication signals in ASD and modulate the efficacy of interventions for improving the behavioral deficits. Second, the findings deliver empirical support for a recent theoretical model of how the typically developing brain perceives dynamic faces. This improved our current knowledge about brain processing of visual communication signals in the typically developing population. Advanced scientific knowledge about human communication, as provided in the current dissertation, propels further empirical research and development of clinical interventions that aim to promote communication abilities in affected individuals.

This diploma thesis deals with the issue of alternative and augmentative communication in the education of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and impaired communication skills. The theoretical part defines the concept of communication and speech, describes the development of communication in childhood and represents various categories of impaired communication skills. The next chapter defines the ASD, its classification and speeches. Furthermore, the theoretical part presents individual alternative and augmentative communication systems and focuses on their advantages and disadvantages in the education of children. The empirical part of the work is processed in the form of qualitative research, where the outputs are represented by case studies based on observations and interviews, which are focused on communication systems used by students with the ASD. The main goal is to focus on children with the ASD and their ability to use the alternative and augmentative communication systems in their development and education.

The dissertation thesis addresses the topic of mathematical tasks processing in students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and problematic points of their solution. The aim of this work is to delineate methods that ASD students use to approach these tasks and solve them. We focus primarily on whether it is possible to identify different procedures than those used by typically developing students, and whether these procedures show specifics corresponding to distinct cognitive processes. In the theoretical part we provide a theoretical background for the study. Firstly, we create a frame to understand the complexity of autism, furthermore we deal with psychological theories examining the topic, and describe specifics of development of ASD students during their adolescence. Thereafter, we reflect on studies addressing mathematical skills of ASD students. Mathematics is considered as their great strength, however is not sufficiently scrutinized, as highlighted by various international studies (for example Oswald et al., 2016). The empiric part is based on qualitative methodology and pursues comparisons of mathematical tasks processing between six ASD students and typically developing peers. We strive to document differences and common points in solutions as well as to analyze cognitive processes of...