Autism Spectrum Disorder, Annotated Bibliography Example

The research topic is Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This paper mainly discusses the challenges faced by autistic children as they shift from one level of education to another. ASD is a complex that includes persistent challenges in the individuals’ speech, social interactions, nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors. ASD effects and symptoms severity is dissimilar in each individual.

Lord, C., Elsabbagh, M., Baird, G., & Veenstra-Vanderweele, J. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder. The Lancet, 392(10146), 508-520. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736 (18)31129-2

This article provides information on how the outlook of individuals with ASD has become brighter as compared to the previous years. The article aims to give clinicians the current research result, which would help provide proper guidance within the ASD context to families. It would help them acknowledge that even though ASD is a biological disorder, it can be merely treated through behavioral and education services, with the critical adjunct being medication (Lord et al., 2018). Individuals with ASD are marked by social contact, communication deficits, and behavior patterns that are repetitive and involve them having genetic disorders and psychiatric disorders.

There is a differential diagnosis for children and also adults. The article further states that a child’s result, whether he or she has ASD, is affected by the family’s reactions towards the condition. Adults with this condition are not faced with intellectual disabilities but rather psychiatric conditions that are comorbid (Lord et al., 2018). Moreover, concerning the ASD environmental risk factors, it is caused mainly by the medications a mother receives during pregnancy. Regarding genetics, ASD risk is common in boys than in girls.

Parents having lower education levels are always less successful in finding specialist intercessions that would boost their outcomes. There have been fewer clinical implications regarding ASD because of the simple models used to represent real development. However, caregivers should be reassured that ASD patients’ conditions will continually improve (Lord et al., 2018). It can be supported by giving these individuals practical information and support.

Anglim, J., Prendeville, P., & Kinsella, W. (2017). The self-efficacy of primary teachers in supporting the inclusion of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Educational Psychology In Practice, 34(1), 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2017.1391750

This article provides information about how the primary Irish school teachers feel ill-equipped to copping with ASD students (Anglim et al., 2017). The number of students with this disorder has recently increased. These children attend mainstream classrooms but are assessed separately based on their transition abilities. There have been dilemmas of what their inclusion pertains to. This includes identifying ASD children as having special education needs, learning the same curriculum with other children, and those with severe disabilities learning in mainstream classes. With these issues, teachers’ efficacy is critical. This is the teachers’ belief of their capabilities to facilitate the learning of ASD students and come up with desired outcomes (Anglim et al., 2017).

From the researchers’ study, it is evident that most teachers were reported to be unconfident when told that they would have an ASD student. Most of them claimed to lack proper skills to attend to them. Furthermore, they claimed that they are unaware of the proper procedure for guiding these students. It’d be due to a lack of adequate preparation (Anglim et al., 2017). However, they suggested that if they had proper support, they would have taken care of them.

Most of the teachers reported late obtaining of the diagnosis of these children and thus made it hard to assess them. Teachers felt that psychologists being easily accessible would help reduce children with ASD (Anglim et al., 2017). It was concluded that the inclusion of ASD children in mainstream education was important. This is where the other students would learn how to accept and understand them and hence develop care toward them.

Connolly, M., & Gersch, I. (2016). Experiences of parents whose children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are starting primary school. Educational Psychology In Practice, 32(3), 245-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2016.1169512

This article delivers information on the difficult experiences faced by parents when enrolling ASD children in primary school (Connolly & Gersch, 2016). The research was carried out in the Republic of Ireland. It was identified as the most difficult time in parenthood. Therefore addressing and acknowledging their perspectives would be beneficial to parents. Starting education is a critical period towards the long-term development of a child. Children with disabilities and those from low-income families, on the other hand, are seen as the most disadvantaged in the education transfer phase.

ASD children face hardships with communication, social interactions, and the generalization of skills learned from different settings. This makes them more susceptible in the transition period (Connolly & Gersch, 2016). The parents of these children have reported experiencing stigma and exclusion of their children by professionals due to their condition. As it also a non-normative event, parents are first faced with the problem of accepting the diagnosis for their children and also deciding an educational placement that would be viable for them. The theoretical links take a look at how children with ASD transition with family involvement as a unit rather than specific parent roles.

From the participants in the research who were mainly parents, there were several findings. Parents experience a lot of difficulties in securing the necessary support for their children, whereby teachers have been intimidating and thus have to fight for their children’s educational rights (Connolly & Gersch, 2016). They were not heard by their extended family members and the professional on difficulties they faced. They also got late diagnoses which resulted in their children missing the appropriate educational opportunities. But when placed in those schools, they were fully satisfied that it would help their children.

From the study, for a parent to deal with these challenges, the transitions should be child-focused (Connolly & Gersch, 2016). They should also focus on transitions that are horizontal as it impacts the children lives significantly.

Aiello, R., Ruble, L., & Esler, A. (2016). National Study of School Psychologists’ Use of Evidence-Based Assessment in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal Of Applied School Psychology, 33(1), 67-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2016.1236307

This article provides information on the ASD assessment practices that are evidence-based. Recently, ASD is the most often diagnosed disability among children in the US. Although many of them have been identified, they have been put under the special needs category (Aiello et al., 2016). This has called for the need for experts to correctly identify them and give them the best care as the conditions vary from child to child. This should be a shared responsibility all over education, medical and social providers. School psychologists are advised to use an assessment that is evidence-based (EBA). It includes the use of ASD assessments that are psychometrically sound. The assessment of the important impairment areas associated with ASD. Lastly is combining data from a variety of sources.

These EBA practices are not regularly implemented in schools. This is because of the practitioners’ beliefs and misconceptions regarding the ASD students. It leads to ineffective practice.  Moreover, inadequate training opportunities have also been a barrier to the implementation of EBA by professionals. The study shows that only a few trained psychologists implemented EBA (Aiello et al., 2016). The rest relied on ASD checklists which provide insufficient information.

In conclusion, the article suggests that due to the increased number of ASD children, psychologists should be properly trained to implement EBA (Aiello et al., 2016). This results in an earlier intervention, which possibly favors the development of ASD students.

Robinson, L., Bond, C., & Oldfield, J. (2017). A UK and Ireland survey of educational psychologists’ intervention practices for students with an autism spectrum disorder. Educational Psychology In Practice, 34(1), 58-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2017.1391066

This article explains why educational psychologists should be aware of the different options and techniques that can be used to help students with ASD (Robinson et al., 2017).  This is because these children have several needs which can be provided with when one has got efficient training. In the USA, psychologists are required to use interventions that are school-based by the law. However, it was evident that most psychologists were not familiar with these interventions. These include story-based approaches, interactions in child-directed teaching, and also strategies related to social skills.

EBI requires that the psychologists know how an intervention would meet the ASD student’s individual needs. In the UK, there are no psychologist intervention practices for these students (Robinson et al., 2017). Despite the fact that EBI has been recognized, it is unclear to what degree it is used by psychologists. Some variables influence educational psychologists’ decision-making about ASD interventions, according to the research study in the journal. Most of them reported being influenced by the individual needs of the children. This entails views of the teachers, the understanding of personnel of ASD, and also time allocation availability to the educational psychologists. They reported being collaborating with the ASD students and their parents in using the interventions (Robinson et al., 2017). Moreover, the psychologists focused on the student’s specific characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses in ensuring the used interventions were appropriate. Furthermore, the decisions regarding the currently available resources were vital in the delivery of the intervention.  These included the financial resources and accessibility to well-trained Practitioners.

Lastly, because the psychologists in the UK are not bound to implementing the EBI, they can now consider other factors apart from these interventions when taking care of ASD children (Robinson et al., 2017).

Mandy, W., Murin, M., Baykaner, O., Staunton, S., Hellriegel, J., Anderson, S., & Skuse, D. (2015). The transition from primary to secondary school in mainstream education for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 20(1), 5-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361314562616

This article provides information regarding ASD children transitioning from primary to secondary education (Mandy et al., 2015). Clinicians and health professionals are now more aware of ASD people’s strengths. Nonetheless, most of the adult outcomes of these people are bad. Includes them being excluded from the workforce, overdependence on parental support, and also mental disorders. This has called for urgency in understanding processes that are better, which would underpin the poor prognosis of ASD, in informing an intervention.

Transitioning from primary to secondary education happens when individuals are on the cusp of their adolescence. Primary schools have less demanding as compare to secondary school. This is because secondary education demands more social and academic independence. Thus this transition requires an improved child’s organization, intellectual and social capacities (Mandy et al., 2015). An interview was carried with the parents with ASD children. It was discovered that most of them were anxious about the children’s abilities to meet these demands. These children have been under the threat of peer victimization. There was according to past study detail.

According to data collected, it was recently discovered that there was a general decrease in the victimization of ASD students with their peers (Mandy et al., 2015). There no apparent association between victimization and primary to secondary education transition. Moreover, their adaptive function was reported to improve significantly. However, there were some concerns raised in the study. These include the students who experienced difficulties in adapting to communicating as compared to primary school. An increase in the levels of psychopathology persisted during the transition period. Lastly, individuals should recognize that even though ASD students adapt to secondary education, they also need extra support needs.

References

Aiello, R., Ruble, L., & Esler, A. (2016). National Study of School Psychologists’ Use of Evidence-Based Assessment in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal Of Applied School Psychology, 33(1), 67-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2016.1236307

Anglim, J., Prendeville, P., & Kinsella, W. (2017). The self-efficacy of primary teachers in supporting the inclusion of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Educational Psychology In Practice, 34(1), 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2017.1391750

Connolly, M., & Gersch, I. (2016). Experiences of parents whose children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are starting primary school. Educational Psychology In Practice, 32(3), 245-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2016.1169512

Lord, C., Elsabbagh, M., Baird, G., & Veenstra-Vanderweele, J. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder. The Lancet, 392(10146), 508-520. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31129-2

Mandy, W., Murin, M., Baykaner, O., Staunton, S., Hellriegel, J., Anderson, S., & Skuse, D. (2015). The transition from primary to secondary school in mainstream education for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 20(1), 5-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361314562616

Robinson, L., Bond, C., & Oldfield, J. (2017). A UK and Ireland survey of educational psychologists’ intervention practices for students with an autism spectrum disorder. Educational Psychology In Practice, 34(1), 58-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2017.1391066