Child and Adolescent

1. AUTISM SPECTRUM
DISORDER

2. DEFINITION
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD),
as defined by individuals with
Disabilities Education Act or IDEA
(2013), refers to a development
disability significantly affecting verbal
and nonverbal communication and
social interaction, generally evident
before age three that adversely
affects a child’s educational
performance.

3. Schaefer and Luta (2006)
- state that the spectrum within ASD
are a collective of neurobehavioral
conditions that share in common
primary oddities of socialization and
communication.

4. The primary core deficit areas of people
with ASD;
 atypical or qualitative impairment in
social interaction
 qualitative impairment of
communication
 and the presence of repetitive and
stereotyped patterns of behavior or
activities

5. American Psychiatric Association
- state that ASD is a paradigmatic
condition among a class of disorders
marked by social and communication
deficits and behavioral rigidities.

6. TYPES OF AUTISM SPECTRUM
DISORDER
1. Classic Autism
2. Asperge’s Syndrome
3. Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Not-Otherwise Specified ( PPD-
NOS)
4. Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
5. Rett’s Syndrome

7. Classic Autism
New (2012) characterizes children with
classic autism to have severe challenges,
including impaired social and
communication interaction leading to
difficulty in conversing and relating to
people.
 Children with classic autism may show
repetitive or stereotyped behavior and may
be hypersensitive to their environment.
 Some children with classic autism are
distressed to certain sounds, colors and

8. Asperge’s Syndrome
 It displays symptoms that fits the Autism
Spectrum Diagnosis but presents a milder
indictor of ASD.
 It is characterized by social and
communication skill deficits, relatively
exceptional language and cognitive
development, and the presence of
idiosyncratic interest.
Individuals with Asperger’s Disorder
frequently use pedantic speech as well as
scientific or technical vocabulary with an

9.  People with Asperge’s Disorder appear to
demonstrate a lack of “ empathy” by
making limited eye contact, appearing to
unengaged in a conversation, and being
confused by the use of gestures.

10. Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
 It develops in children who seem to be
developing typically by achieving the age-
appropriate milestone until the child
reached the ages of three to five.
 According to Tambongan et. al (2014),
children with Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder stop talking, lose potty-training
skills, and stop socializing.

11. Rett’s Syndrome
 It is a developmental disorder, not
degenerative, that is mostly prevalent in
girls. Generally, symptoms appear after an
early period of what seems to be usual
development.
 The child displays a slowing down or
stagnation of skills and most likely can
profoundly impair the child’s ability to use
her hands as she did before (Rudy, 2016).

12.  Other problems may include seizures and
disorganized breathing pattern, walking on
the toes, sleep problems, wide-based gait,
difficulty chewing, slowed growth, seizures,
and cognitive disabilities.

13. Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Not-Otherwise Specified ( PPD-
NOS)
 It is a disorder that often not as obvious as
autism but were used to describe individuals
who didn’t fully fit the criteria for other
specific diagnoses but are nevertheless
autistic thus termed atypical autism
(Research Autism, 2016).
 People with PPD-NOS show symptoms of
autism at various times, but not often
enough to get a full diagnosis of autism thus
leading to misintervened needs in social and

14. HISTORY
According to Smith (2014), doctors have
come a long way since 1908, when the word
autism was first used. People have thought
that autism was new problem because of its
increased prevalence in the recent years. But
as emphasized by him, it was actually been on
the books for more than 70 years.

15. 1908 - the word autism was used to
describe a subset of Schizophrenic
patients who were especially withdrawn
and self-absorbed.
 1943 - American child psychiatrist Leo
Kanner, published a paper describing 11
children who were highly intelligent but
displayed “a powerful desire for aloneness”
and “ an obsessive insistence on persistent
sameness.” He later named their condition
“early infantile autism.”
 1944 - German scientist named Hans
Asperger describe a “milder” form of autism

16.  1967 - Psychologist Bruno Bettelheim
popularized the theory that “refrigerator
mothers” as he termed them, caused
autism by not loving their children enough.
 1968 - Leo Kanner first described autism
disorder, though his focus was on classic
autism.
 Post-World War II, there were a lot of
psychoanalytic researches done on autism.
Researchers looked solely at the impact of
autism to the life experiences of persons
having such condition.

17.  1977 - a research was conducted on twins
that proved that autism is largely caused by
genetics and biological differences in brain
development (Hallmayer, 2012).
 1980 - “infantile autism” is listed for the
first time in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); the
condition was officially separated from
Childhood Schizophrenia.
 1987 - the DSM replaced “infantile
autism: with a more expansive definition of
“autism disorder” including a checklist of

18.  1988 - psychologist Ivar Lovaas,
published the first study showing how
intensive behavior therapy can help
children with autism.
- a movie entitled Rain Man was
released starring a child with savant
autism, who has photographic memory and
can calculate huge number in his head.
 1991 - public schools began identifying
children on the spectrum and offered them
special services.

19.  1994 - Asperge’s Syndrome is added to
DSM, expanding the autism spectrum to
include milder cases in which individuals
tend to be more highly functioning.
 1998 - a study published in The Lancent
suggested that the measles-mumps-rubella
(MMR) vaccine causes autism.
2003 - the U.S Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated
that one in 110 children have autism
spectrum disorder and up from one in 150
in 2007.

20.  2013 - the DSM-V folded all
subcategories of the condition into one
umbrella diagnosis of Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD). Asperge’s Syndrome is no
longer considered a separate condition.
ASD is defined by two categories: 1)
Impaired social communication and/or
Interaction. 2) Restricted and /or repetitive
behavior.

21. PHILIPPINES
 1987 - the birth of Autism Spectrum
Disorder in the Philippines, as 11 mothers of
children with autism got together to share
their experiences, concerns and sorrows
they feels regarding their children and their
way of parenting( Autism Societies, 2014).
 March 08, 1989 - the Foundation for
Autistic Children and Adults of the
Philippines or ACAP Foundation was
formally organized and recognized, as these
mothers to be the first pioneers and
advocates of ASD advocates in the

22.  October 1988 - a magazine published
an issue about autism and became the
defining point for the organization to gain
more parents attending their meetings.
 The organization also started to connect the
other organization with the same mission
and vision such as Autism Societies
America, the National Council for the
Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) and
the Kapisanan ng May Kapansanan sa
Pilipinas, Inc. (KAMPI).

23. CHARACTERISTICS
1. Social Skills Deficits
2. Communication Deficits
3. Regression
4. Play Skills
5. Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped
pattern of behavior

24. Social Skills Deficits
 Children with ASD often do not appear to
seek connection with other people. They
usually contented being alone, ignore their
parent’s effort for attention, and seldom make
eye contact or attempt to catch other’s
attention with gesture or vocalization.
 Deficits in joint attention seem to be one of
the most distinguishing characteristics of
very young children with ASD.