Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Catalog description

In this course, students will learn to identify the core symptoms of children who are diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum. Due to the unusual array of symptoms that make up the spectrum diagnosis, video presentations of children on the spectrum will be used to enhance this learning objective. The video presentations also act as a catalyst to spur student interaction and the integration of the didactic material with the clinical presentation. A number of additional factors add to the diagnostic confusion of children on the spectrum: 1) Autism is a dynamic diagnosis, not a static diagnosis. Hence, the symptom severity and quality can change over time as the child develops. 2) Autism has a very high co-morbidity rate with a number of additional psychiatric disorders including: ADHD, OCD, Tourette's Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, and Mood Disorders. This is the biggest source of diagnostic confusion in that there is a lot of overlap of symptoms between these various disorders. 3) The internal regulation difficulties (impulse, affect, and mood) and the executive function deficits of children on the spectrum add further confusion and challenge to their presentation in the classroom. These additional issues are dealt with in this course by focusing on the developmental perspective and by our careful review of these additional developmental and diagnostic areas as they interface with children on the spectrum. Video presentations of these additional areas of concern are used to help the student integrate the didactic with the clinical presentation. Current treatment interventions for Autism and these related disorders will also be reviewed in detail.