Is autism an extreme male condition?

Key Issue -

In pairs, write down whatever you know about Autism

Starter

What is Autism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL5GHMEjzt8&feature=player_embedded

Watch and make notes.

Video

A condition that children develop not an obtainable disease.

Characterised by children not being able to empathise with others (see next slide).

Baron-Cohen believe autistic children have high systemising ability – find it hard to understand other people.

Some autistic children have a low IQ and therefore this systemising process takes form in the sense of an obsession, memorising phone numbers etc.

They are low empathising – High systemising

Describing the issue of Autism:

Lack of empathy for others Inability to show love or emotions Difficulties in understanding people Lower than normal language ability Low levels of imaginative thinking Problems with communicating with others

and building social relationships Low IQ A preference for order and organisation,

and a resistance to change Obsessional behaviour

Some characteristics of autism

There is an autistic spectrum – a continuum of autism.

Goes from mild Asperger’s Then through Asperger’s to Autism Higher up the scale (red) the more severe

Autistic Spectrum

Asperger's Syndrome

A condition in which a person with a mental disability, such as an autism spectrum disorder, demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal.

People with savant syndrome may have neurodevelopmental disorders, notably autism spectrum disorders, or brain injuries.

The most dramatic examples of savant syndrome occur in individuals who score very low on IQ tests while demonstrating exceptional skills or brilliance in specific areas, such as rapid calculation, art, memory, or musical ability

So what about savants?

About three quarters of all autistic people are male.

About 90% of people with aspergers are male. This suggests that it is a male condition

Autism

Males are better systems and less good at emotions:

- Girls = Boys =

- Girls = Boys =

- Girls = Boys =

- Girls = Boys =

Do all males have some autistic traits?

Explanation rests on the idea that males use right hemisphere more than females but less bilateral.

Boys brains grow faster than girls, those with autism show growth to an ‘extreme’ degree.

Bailey et al. (1994) – male brains are heavier than females, autistic male brains even heavier than normal.

Normal males have a smaller corpus callosum than normal females. In people with autism the corpus callosum is even smaller.

Amygdala abnormally large Large amount of neurones (Courchesne, 2011)

Application

Males are generally stronger at spatial tasks than females and people with autism seem to be even better at spatial tasks (assembling).

Males develop language more slowly than females and people with autism are very slow to develop language.

Could be linked to girls being exposed to high levels of testosterone (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2006).

Read the short snippet of his 2005 study (p294) and discuss.

Application

Baron-Cohen (2005) suggests that the brain structure of an autistic person is an exaggeration of normal male brain structure.

He argues that there are many similarities between the brain structure of an autistic person and the brain structure of a normal male.

Simon Baron-Cohen (Biological-Extreme Male Brain)

Baron-Cohen, Leslie, Frith (1985) Theory of mind is the ability to understand

your own and other peoples belief, desires, intentions and perspectives.

TOM is important because ‘the ability to make inferences about what other people believe to be the case in a given situation allows one to predict what they will do’, Baron-Cohen, Leslie, Frith (1985), p39

Tom may explain some social and communicational difficulties that autistic people experience.

Sally-Anne Test (Theory of Mind) -

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jSdOQQpv0

What does this video tell us about children with autism?

Where will Sally look for her marble? The TOM BIG question.

- In the study 80% of autistic children got the wrong (4/20 got it correct) .

- 14% of children with Downs Syndrome got it wrong (12/14 got it correct).

- 15% of a typical child got it wrong (23/27 got it right)

Sally-Anne Test (Theory of Mind) -

Research using twins has found a concordance rate of 60-90% for autism in monozygotic twins, but only 5% in dizygotic twins.

A genetic basis for autism

Other reasons for autism-Genetics Autism may be undiagnosed PKU-a genetic

disorder not an extreme male brain condition.

Autism and PKU often co-occur.

Environmental Causes MMR jab has been linked with autism but

this has been disproved. Cold, harsh parenting has been linked with

autism but this has been also disproved. Difficulties at birth have been linked to

autism but it is hard to establish whether the difficulties cause autism or autism in the unborn child leads to the difficulties.

Research against extreme male brain theory Autistic people do not have greater brain

lateralisation than normal people. This goes against the idea of autistic people

having an extreme male brain.

Dr. Stanley Greenspan is a physician and psychoanalyst and one of the world's top authorities on autism.

According to Greenspan (2009), neglect is one of the causes for autism.

Scientific studies have shown that neglect causes changes in brain physiology:

Another study showed a direct link between neglect in baby rats and autistic-like symptoms in their offspring, along with genetic changes that perpetuate the symptoms in the offspring's offspring.

Can neglect cause autism?

What do you think?