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An Introduction to Autism and the Autism Spectrum

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Handbook of Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Law

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Abstract

The syndrome of infantile autism was identified in 1943 (although cases clearly were present earlier). Very quickly there began to be a debate about the nature of autism and the boundaries of the autism phenotype. In the 1970s multiple lines of evidence emerged to suggest that autism should be recognized as a disorder in its own right and this happened in 1980. Since that time there has been an explosion of research and the debate about the boundaries of the diagnostic concept has continued. It does appear that individuals on the autism spectrum present special issues and challenges in terms of their interactions with the legal system at all levels. In this chapter we summarize the state of scientific knowledge and highlight some important areas relevant to those who deal with individuals with autism in legal settings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center and Autism Center of Excellence, Yale University and Southern Conn. State University, New Haven, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

  2. Southern Connecticut States University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Scott Jackson

  3. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, New York, NY, USA

    Brian Pete

Authors
  1. Fred R. Volkmar
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  2. Scott Jackson
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  3. Brian Pete
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fred R. Volkmar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center and Autism Center of Excellence, Yale University and Southern Conn. State University, New Haven, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, USA

    Rachel Loftin

  3. Division of Law and Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, USA

    Alexander Westphal

  4. Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Marc Woodbury-Smith

Glossary

Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP):

The broader range of autism/autism-like traits in the more general population

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT):

A form of psychological treatment that is structured and focuses both on behavior and cognitive aspects of conditions like anxiety and depression, has been modified for use in autism.

Comorbid:

having more than one condition, e.g., autism with depression

Diagnostic overshadowing:

A tendency for major developmental problems like autism or intellectual disability to ‘overshadow’ other conditions that may be overlooked.

Diagnostic substitution:

When more than one diagnostic label can be used a tendency to overlook one of the labels resulting in inflated rates of one disorder, may happen n association with autism being more effective in getting services.

Echolalia:

repetition of whole ‘chunks’ of language rather than a single word, e.g., the sentence “want a cookie want a cookie” is used in place of the word cookie.

Executive functions:

Psychological processes involved in forward planning, self-monitoring, organization, and problem solving.

Extreme Male Brain Theory:

A theory that suggests a difference between empathizers (often females) and systematizers (often males) with the latter group being more at risk for ASD

Gestalt learning:

The tendency to learn things in chunks rather than to break things down to consequent parts, echolalia is one example incidental learning: Learning that happens just from watching others without explicit teaching

Intellectual disability:

Previously termed mental retardation and sometimes associated with ASD this term refers to significantly subaverage (IQ70 or below) and similar levels of adaptive (real life) skills.

Joint attention:

A process that beginning in infancy as the baby follows the gaze and attention of the parents to learn about what is important or relevant in the world.

Optimal outcome:

Individuals who once had a diagnosis of autism according to official diagnostic criteria but who no longer do so (*often still exhibiting some signs o of social oddity).

Pragmatic language:

Social language.

Prosody:

The musical or ‘sing song’ aspects of speech.

Theory of Mind:

The ability to understand the thoughts, feelings, and intention of others reflecting an ability to put one’s self in the other person′s place.

Visual learning style:

A tendency to learn best with static visual symbol, pictures, etc. (as opposed to auditory learning).

Weak Central Coherence Theory:

A theory of autism that posits that the difficulty in autism in an inability to being various observations (particularly social ones) together in a coherent and unified way.

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Volkmar, F.R., Jackson, S., Pete, B. (2021). An Introduction to Autism and the Autism Spectrum. In: Volkmar, F.R., Loftin, R., Westphal, A., Woodbury-Smith, M. (eds) Handbook of Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70913-6_1

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