Educating Children with Autism (2001) / Chapter Skim
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7 Cognitive Development
7 Cognitive Development
Pages 82-92
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From page 82... ...
, studies of normal cognitive development have generally focused either on the process of acquisition of knowledge (emphasizing theories of learning and information processing) or on symbolic development, concept acquisition, and skill acquisition (a combined line of work often based on the theories of Piaget)
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From page 83... ...
Cognitive deficits, including mental retardation, are interwoven with social and communication difficulties, and many of the theoretical accounts of autistic spectrum disorders emphasize concepts, such as joint attention and theory of mind, that involve components of cognition, communication, and social understanding. Thus, educational interventions cannot assume a typical sequence of learning; they must be individualized, with attention paid to the contribution of each of the component factors to the goals most relevant for an individual child.
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From page 84... ...
STABILITY AND USES OF TESTS OF INTELLIGENCE IQ scores have been important in the study of autism and autistic spectrum disorders. To date, scores on intelligence tests, particularly verbal IQ, have been the most consistent predictors of adult independence and functioning (Howlin, 1997~.
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From page 85... ...
This means that it is difficult to know if the frequency of autism is truly high in severely to profoundly mentally retarded individuals, or if the high scores on diagnostic instruments occur as the result of "floor" effects due to the general absence of more mature, organized behaviors (Nordin and Gillberg, 1996; Wing and Gould, 1979~. IQ scores have been used as outcome measures in several studies of treatment of young children with autism (Lovaas, 1993; Sheinkopf and
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From page 86... ...
. Children with autism tend to have the greatest difficulty on tests in which both social and language components are heavily weighted and least difficulty with nonverbal tests that have minimum demands for speed and motor skills (e.g., the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices [Raven, 1989~.
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From page 87... ...
Similar to findings with typically developing children, tests of intellectual ability yield more stable scores as children with autistic spectrum disorders become older and more varied areas of intellectual development can be evaluated. Although the process of assessment can be difficult (Sparrow, 1997)
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From page 88... ...
Because IQ scores provide limited information and there are complex implications of test selection across ages and developmental levels, IQ scores should not be considered a primary measure of outcome, though they may be one informative measure of the development of the children who participate in an intervention program. Specific cognitive goals, often including social, communicative, and adaptive domains, are necessary to evaluate progress effectively.
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From page 89... ...
used tasks that required flexibility and response set shifting, and noted that younger children with autism tended to exhibit more errors in perseveration than either mentally or chronologically age-matched control children. More recently, others did not find that the executive functioning in preschoolers with autistic spectrum disorders differed from that in other children (Griffith et al., 1999; Green et al., 1995~.
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From page 90... ...
There is very limited research on instructional approaches to promoting mathematics skills. A range of instructional strategies have involved children with autistic spectrum disorders.
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From page 91... ...
Cooperative learning groups are another instructional approach. Provided tutoring by peers, a group of children with autistic spectrum disorders practiced reading comprehension and planned an academic game; the children increased their academic engagement in reading (Kamps et al., 1995~.
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From page 92... ...
There is also a need for research to define appropriate sequences of skills that should be taught through educational programs for young children with autistic spectrum disorders, as well as methods for selecting those sequences, while developing programs for individual children.
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