Annotated Bibliography: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Theme: The way autism spectrum disorder is investigated can help in the management of related symptoms under different socio-political contexts and also eliminate the various myths regarding the disorder through informed awareness campaigns.

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Annotated Bibliography

Baxter, A. J., Brugha, T. S., Erskine, H. E., Scheurer, R. W., Vos, T., & Scott, J. G. (2015). The epidemiology and global burden of autism spectrum disorders. Psychological medicine, 45(3), 601-613. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/abb7/d7c28fe76bf8023f394b4e2e334a6b26ac72.pdf

Baxter et al. (2015), investigates the burden of autism spectrum disorder at a global level supported by the data from Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 with the aim of developing local, regional and global prevalence models.

Autism disorders were identified to account for more than 58 disability-adjusted life year (DALYs) per a hundred thousand population. Due to the estimated health loss across the lifespan, comprehending the burden caused by autism spectrum disorder is considered valid for health care policy formulations. Baxter et al. (2015), identifies that a precise epidemiological description of autism spectrum disorder is vital to determine the investment and planning of housing, education and other support services.

Christensen, D. L., Braun, K. V. N., Baio, J., Bilder, D., Charles, J., Constantino, J. N., ... & Lee, L. C. (2018). Prevalence and characteristics of autism spectrum disorder among children aged eight years-autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 2012. MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 65(13), 1.

This research focuses on the prevalence estimates for children below eight years living within catchment areas of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) network sites in 2012, overall and stratified by race, sex, and specific source records (such as health and education records versus health records only).

Christensen et al. (2018), discusses the various symptoms of autism spectrum disorders including social skills and language adaption. Autism is identified to have no treatment; however, early intervention is determined to be crucial in reducing the prevalence and maximizing the ability of the children to participate and function in their communities. Christensen et al. (2018), emphasizes that continued efforts should be channeled towards the initiation of early identification an intervention mechanisms.

John, R. P., Knott, F. J., & Harvey, K. N. (2017). Myths about autism: An exploratory study using focus groups. Autism, 1362361317714990. Retrieved from http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/70616/3/Autism%20myths%20full%20paper%20%281%29.pdf

Based on reports from teachers, individuals with autism and parents, autistic children are often stigmatized and isolated by the typically developing peers. John at al. (2017), discusses the misconceptions about autism such as a cognitive component of attitudes as examined by focus groups. The research identifies that individuals with diverse knowledge and experience hold inaccurate beliefs regarding autism. However, they are willing to alter their views.

The study emphasizes that information through education, informal contact with people who have experience regarding autism and media can play a crucial role in influencing the change and attitude formation. Anti-stigma interventions that provide accurate information also improve the attitudes regarding mental illnesses.

Plaisted, K. C. (2015). Reduced generalization in autism: An alternative to weak central coherence. Retrieved from https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/248652/Chapter.pdf?sequence=1

Such self-stimulation traits have been attributed to the weak central coherence hypothesis. Plaisted, (2015), questions whether the weak central coherence is a weakness or strength due to its ability to increase the exquisite perception of autism individuals. He argues that autistic individuals are not inferior as perceived by society. Instead, they process features relating to a particular situation re exquisite perception relatively well while those held in typical stimuli poorly.

Repetitive behavior among autistic individuals is also identified to be consistent with clinical reports that they can notice situations that others will consider insignificant or fail to observe. The exquisite perception of detail among autistic children has been enabled them to perceive their surroundings in a completely different manner.

Pulsifer, R. (2017). Multiple autisms: Spectrums of advocacy and genomic science by Jennifer S. Singh (review). Configurations, 25(4), 560-563. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/con.2017.0032

Pulsifer discusses the concept of multiple autisms and the relationship between scientific research and the competing experiences of parents of people with autism, biomedical researchers, and autism individuals in understanding the condition. Despite the different perspectives, scientific research remains focused on researching "autism genes" as they are believed to be responsible for the change in cognitive styles and behaviors.

The dominant research focusing on genomics is identified to have little meaning for the families and individuals with autism, while also impeding other avenues of knowledge production concerning the condition. Multiple, on the other hand, reveal the response by biomedical research on the pressures from the various political and social contexts. Pulsifer discusses the resistance faced by the biomedical model of autism which focuses on finding a "cure" while ignoring the life experiences and contributions by autism individuals. Multiple Autisms is identified as a successful means of communicating the contributions of biomedicine in a broad manner that can increase public understanding of the condition.

Verhoeff, B. (2013). The autism puzzle: Challenging a mechanistic model on conceptual and historical grounds. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine: PEHM, 8, 17. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-8-17.

Verhoeff argues that clinical and scientific thinking concerning autism implicitly adheres to the mechanistic property cluster (MPC) model of understanding psychiatric disorders. The research challenges the experimental model based on historical grounds.

The mechanistic model definition of autism is identified as attractive due to its consideration of the heterogeneity and multi-causality boundaries regarding mental disorders, and the ability to satisfy the intuitions of reductionist psychiatrists'. However, Verhoeff, (2013), critiques the model as it fails to incorporate the idea of behaviors considered to be abnormal and how these traits are represented in autism.