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Theories Of Autism

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Autism is a common disability that when diagnosed in the pre- school stage, affects the development of the child when going through the pre school developmental stage. This will be demonstrated through an examination of not only what autism is, but also the various areas of development that it affects. These areas include, cognitive, social, emotional, speech, gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Many developmental theories can also be applied to autistic children in the pre school developmental stage; however, the two theories that will be discussed will be the social learning theory and the socio cultural theory, as they can be used to not only explain the behaviour of Autistic children but can also assist Autistic children in learning. …show more content…

The socio cultural theory examines society’s contribution to the development of each individual and places an emphasis on the interaction between development and the culture in which they live(Education 2013). Vygotsky believed that parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large, were all contributors to a person’s development. A focus that the theory was formed around was the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the area between a child’s area of current abilities and the area where the child is not ready to learn (TESOL 2013). The area of a child’s current abilities refers to the things that the child can do, whereas the area where the child is not ready to learn refers to the things that are too hard for the child to have the motivation and will to do. Other focuses of the theory include the importance of play and social interaction, as well as the significance of language and speech in cognitive development, particularly in three forms of speech; social, private and silent. Social speech begins in the pre school developmental stage and refers to the child talking to the outside world with what ever they can get to come out (TESOL 2013). Silent inner speech begins in the stage after the pre school stage and is where the speech become self-regulated and flows as a natural conversation. Private speech is directed to the child themselves and is the …show more content…

This is demonstrated in an article by Carmel Conn which analyses Autism through a socio cultural perspective. In her findings, she noted that Autism is often characterised by a range of conditions leading to different experiences (Conn 2014). These experiences have been said to be due to differing cognitive, social, sensory- perceptual and motor functioning (Conn 2014). Conn argues that this view on Autism focuses on the autistic child’s deficits as reasons why they go through these experiences (Conn 2014). Conn proposed that by looking at Autism through a socio- cultural lens, it focuses on the interaction, communication and play which therefore finds alternative forms of supporting children with autism (Conn 2014). Moreover, Conn also discuses how these interactions actually facilitate learning and development in line with personal and group resources, interests and needs in autistic children (Conn 2014). These views regarding the use of the socio cultural theory challenges the common views on Autism which places a focus on the individual’s deficits. Conn’s writing places an emphasis on the diversity element of culture and how the disabling factors of an Autistic child can be heightened due to a lack of a comprehensive, reflective and adaptive environment (Conn 2014). Although the socio cultural theory can be used to benefit Autistic children

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