| Preface |
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| Chapter 1 Approaches of Early Detection of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Brief Review |
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Due to the heterogeneity of ASD population, many difficulties emerge when it comes to diagnosis of the disorder and even more difficulties regarding early detection. |
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Specifically, early detection enables diagnosis to be made before the span of 24-30 months, the age where the official diagnosis is usually made. |
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As it is known, earlier diagnosis is very crucial as children with ASD can benefit more from programs of early intervention. |
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Taking all these into account, a brief review of the most popular approaches for early detection of ASD would be elaborated in order to raise awareness to health care professionals, clinicians, and parents. |
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Moreover, in this chapter, the pros and the cons of each approach would be elaborated, and in the final part, some recommendations would be made concerning the process of early detection. |
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| Chapter 2 A Thorough Presentation of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) |
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21 | (18) |
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ADOS-2 is considered the gold standard observational instrument for use in the diagnosis and/or classification of autism and ASD. |
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In this chapter, the process of assessment will be described, which involves direct observation and engagement of children and adults for whom an ASD is suspected. |
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Specifically, an emphasis will be put on ADOS structure, namely the five different modules for the assessment. |
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Then, the advantages of ADOS-2 will be elaborated as a diagnostic tool and a brief review of studies concerning its psychometric properties will be reported. |
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| Chapter 3 Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Paradigm of Neurodiversity |
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39 | (13) |
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Alexandra Andreea Dragomir |
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The new approaches for disability are characterized through respect towards the beneficiary. |
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In practice, this means empowering the person with a disability or an association that fights for the rights to make choices about their personal life. |
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Empowering a person with disabilities, trusting their potential, and encouraging them to look with optimism towards the future are just a few of the aspects of change. |
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Involving the person in making decisions for themselves and promoting those changes that have an impact on the quality of life also has a pragmatic side in the sense that it requires considerable expenses. |
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Several debates for child's rights and people's with disabilities rights proposed the definition of "rights for a future" (Crete, 2006). |
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The freedom of choice does not only represent a topic from the individualized intervention plan, but additionally refers to taking responsibility, taking ownership for what the person with a disability agreed with. |
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| Chapter 4 Collaborative Learning Environments for Autistic Children in the Inclusive School |
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52 | (14) |
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Loredana Adrian Patrascoiu |
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One of the major challenges facing inclusive education for children with ASD is the identification and the removal of barriers of learning, ranging from attitudinal barriers to those related to how we organize workspaces and the conception of educational resources. |
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The collaborative approach is one of the most effective ways of learning, and it has the benefit to develop the culture of inclusion in schools. |
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In fact, the major challenge of the system is to personalize the educational therapeutic approach, respectively to create learning environments that generate meaningful learning experiences for each beneficiary. |
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When the authors refer to the personalization of inclusive learning environments during pandemic period, they think both of indoor environments, but also of outdoor environments, as well as virtual environments, models of innovative practices regarding the preparation and organization of personalized collaborative spaces both in classrooms and also in learning spaces from the community, having a multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approach in order to develop life skills. |
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| Chapter 5 Teaching Mathematics to Children With Autism: Pedagogical Strategies |
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66 | (24) |
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Difficulties in learning mathematics are the most "resistant" within the intervention programs for children with autism. |
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However, mathematics cannot be excluded from the curriculum because it forms abilities which would ensure better social adaptation for the child. |
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It is not about academic level of mathematics in this chapter, but a professional and social one. |
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In day-to-day life, the child with autism encounters mathematical situations generated by simple self-serving actions, space orientation in spaces loaded with symbols, etc., which requires intellectual operations of a minimal abstraction degree. |
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Along with the social component which mathematics has, learning it can also be considered therapeutic as it involves a process of mental organizing which children with autism need. |
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The chapter offers a few basic methodological solutions in forming mathematical abilities for children with autism. |
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| Chapter 6 Robotics Applications in the Training of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders |
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90 | (18) |
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Children with autism spectrum disorders encounter many difficulties in their social interactions with other people. |
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Impairments in verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as repetitive and stereotypical behaviors, are some of the most common characteristics of this disorder. |
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Along with other treatments and methods, the use of robotics is a relatively new and promising field, which can be implemented in most classrooms. |
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Socially assistive robotics (SAR) is a subcategory of robotic technology that emanated from social robotics and assistive robotics. |
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SAR can be used to enhance literacy skills, social communication, adaptive behaviors, and emotion recognition. |
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In this chapter, the authors discuss some of the most popular robotic tools used in autism interventions for school-aged children, as well as ways to implement robotic partners in inclusive settings. |
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| Chapter 7 Technology-Aided Interventions to Reduce Challenging Behaviors for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display a variety of challenging behaviors, such as tantrums, aggression, stereotypy, and disruption. |
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Challenging behaviors can have a serious negative impact on the development of social relations, in the learning process, and education. |
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To this aim, there is a need for appropriate interventions in order to improve the quality of life of individuals with ASIN This chapter aims to provide data with regard to different types of interventions and technological tools used for the reduction of challenging behaviors of students with ASD. |
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Functional communication training with the use of speech-generating devices, video self-modeling, self-monitoring with the use of technological devices, and social stories presented in electronic form reflect types of interventions used for challenging behavior reduction. |
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Research data indicate that technology-aided interventions are generally effective in reducing challenging behaviors of students with ASD. |
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| Chapter 8 Managing Challenging Behaviours in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
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126 | (18) |
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Managing challenging behaviours is crucially important in order for a child to start learning, and this chapter provides teachers with certain tips and recommendations that are meant to improve the quality of life of autistic children, which implies, in particular, increasing their level of independence, the ability to establish social relationships, the opportunity to study and work, access to outdoor and leisure activities. |
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The main aims of this chapter would be addressing the development of new positive behaviour skills which will facilitate social interaction, communication, and learning readiness and the reduction of undesirable forms of behaviour (aggression, self-aggression, hysterics, fears, unusual interests, stereotype behaviours), which are the main factors that hinder socialization and learning. |
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This chapter will present some instruments to collect data about managing behaviours, interpret the data, and address the challenging behaviour in an appropriate manner. |
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| Chapter 9 Bullying and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Highlights of Research and Practice |
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144 | (21) |
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Across schools, bullying under all of its forms (e.g., physical, verbal, relational, cyber) is a concerning phenomenon. |
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Prevalence studies suggest that children with ASD are a particularly vulnerable population. |
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Specifically, children with ASD are at a considerably higher risk of being bullied than their peers with other or no special educational needs. |
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This chapter aims to examine in what way bullying occurs in ASD populations and what particular challenges individuals with ASD have to deal with. |
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More specifically, the chapter describes and discusses key points in the existing literature on bullying and autism spectrum disorder, such as (1) types of bullying, (2) causes and determining factors, (3) risk and protective factors, (4) consequences of bullying, (5) prevention strategies and interventions where the transition to recommendations is made through thorough research specifically applied to this topic in order to provide theory and evidence-based practices for educators, teachers, school counselors, parents, and any other interested party. |
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| Chapter 10 Specific Interventions and the Role of Occupational Therapy on Children With ASD |
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165 | (15) |
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Occupational therapy focuses on children's sensory processing and modulation. |
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This chapter approaches specific interventions on children with ASD from several perspectives. |
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OT is based on sensory integrative approach when working with children with ASD: helping parents understand their child's behavior, helping children organize responses to sensory input. |
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The sensory integrative approach is a formulated activity plan that helps people who haven't been able to develop their own sensory recognition program. |
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This plan allows a child to integrate all sorts of different sensory activities in their day so they can engage in and begin to work with a wide variety of sensory inputs. |
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This provides a wide number of benefits. |
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Their focus and attention span increases because they won't have meltdowns from trying to process too much information; sensory integrative approach helps to rebuild/reform the child's nervous system. |
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This allows them to physically handle more sensory input. |
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As a result, OT has been proven effective in working with children with ASD. |
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| Chapter 11 Review on Contributing Factors to Anxiety in High-Functioning Autism |
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180 | (13) |
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Christine K. Syriopoulou-Delli |
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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are characterised by difficulties in social communication, by restricted, repetitive behaviour and interests. |
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Autism is a highly heterogeneous disorder; high-functioning Individuals with autism have average or higher intelligence and superficially normal language skills. |
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The lack of intellectual disability does not mean that they can overcome inherent difficulties in social communication and interaction. |
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They struggle to negotiate social interactions and manage daily tasks in a neurotypical world. |
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They are at risk of experiencing mental health difficulties compared to general population. |
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One of the most common mental health difficulties co-occurring with high-functioning autism is anxiety, which is associated with poor individual, family, and social outcomes. |
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The chapter reviews studies on the contributing factors to anxiety in high-functioning autism. |
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Psychological, cognitive, and social factors seem to be important, while there are indications for the existence of some neurobiological basis. |
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It also considers ideas as to how to tackle anxiety. |
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| Chapter 12 Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents With Autism: Application of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy and Other Early Interventions |
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193 | (20) |
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Children and adolescents with autism frequently have symptoms of various mental disorders along with the features that define autism. |
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Problems with anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, cognitive problems, and associated behavioural problems occur in children with autism of all ages. |
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Overall, high rates of several psychiatric disorders have been reported in individuals with autism. |
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Several authors have suggested cognitive and behaviour therapy (CBT) as a very useful intervention therapy, which can apply in schools, in order to help these children with autism and mental health disorders. |
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It is also important the use of information and communications technology (ICT) and other computer programs to support students with autism in education. |
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Therefore, with a coordinated effort to use this intervention program, school have an opportunity to address the goals of improving social, emotional, and behavioural competence for these students and minimising the impact of established emotional, behavioural, or educational disorders. |
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| Chapter 13 The Challenges of Vocational Training for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
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213 | (16) |
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Employment is considered to have a great impact on people's quality of life. |
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However, it is thought to be one of the major problems adolescents and young adults have to face during their transition to the adulthood. |
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Given their impairments, individuals with ASD face several barriers to their vocational rehabilitation. |
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Yet many of them are capable of being independent and working effectively when they are well supported. |
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Since they deal with several challenges due to their condition, high rates of unemployment or underemployment are very common among them. |
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This chapter provides a view of the barriers that can affect the employment outcomes of this population and strategies (e.g., supported employment programs and technology-based interventions) for overcoming those barriers. |
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In particular, the social deficits that characterize ASD may result in difficulty in developing and maintaining high-quality social skills and competence in communication, which are important for finding employment and staying in a work position. |
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| Chapter 14 Parents and Siblings of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study |
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229 | (21) |
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Christine K. Syriopoulou-Delli |
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The presence of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has impact on members of the family. |
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This study explored social, behavioral, and emotional characteristics and perceptions of parents and typically developing (TD) siblings of children with ASD, sibling relationship, and family satisfaction of parents. |
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Of 21 families who participated in study, mother, father, and one TD sibling of school age provided demographic information and completed a series of questionnaires. |
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The majority of parents and TD children showed positive adjustment, moderate level of family satisfaction, and satisfying sibling relationships. |
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Various difficulties were recorded by a small percentage of participants, including high and clinically significant parenting stress, mothers with severe degree of negative emotional status, and a few TD children with externalizing and internalizing problems. |
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The study provided preliminary overview of Greek families of children with ASD, which indicates that the majority cope well with the situation, but some family members could benefit from identification of related problems and professional intervention. |
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| Chapter 15 Improving Communication in Children With ASD: The Family's Role |
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250 | (16) |
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Raising a child with ASD is generally considered a challenging experience for families due to the pervasive difficulties in communication, social skills, and other adaptive behaviors encountered in these children. |
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The family system restructures and adapts to accommodate the needs of the child with ASD. |
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In this chapter, the author highlights the importance of communication skills for the development of children with ASD and summarizes the evidence-based individual interventions for improving them. |
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Although there is robust evidence for the family's beneficial contribution to developing adaptive communication skills in children with ASD, there is still room for uplifting the existing programs in terms of accessibility, efficacy, and culture-based elements. |
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In the final part of the chapter, the author provides recommendations for designing future family interventions addressed to communication skills in children with ASD and argues that culture-specific and systemic factors (such as support policies for children with disabilities) enhance program success. |
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| Chapter 16 Representation of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Greek Cinema: A Discourse Analysis |
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266 | (18) |
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Christine K. Syriopoulou-Delli |
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The chapter examines the representation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Greek cinema and its possible pedagogical effect. |
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The qualitative method of discourse analysis was applied to investigate these issues in four short Greek films, two of which were documentaries in each of which the protagonist was a child or young person with ASD. |
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Preliminary analysis revealed space and gender as the dominant factors used by the filmmakers to depict ASD. |
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The research findings show that this disorder, which is relatively unknown for the Greek public, is represented in the films as dissimilarity from the norm, and people with ASD are depicted as the "others" of this society, with isolation of themselves and their families. |
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Certain positive aspects of ASD were also portrayed, but there is a need for more positive images of ASD to raise public awareness. |
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The cinema could play a pedagogical role in this process and help in the social integration of people with ASD. |
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| Compilation of References |
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| About the Contributors |
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| Index |
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