The quantitative nature of autistic social impairment.

Article: Constantino, J. N. (2011). The quantitative nature of autistic social impairment.

Summary

The article provides profound information about the autism disorder and its social implications. According to the article, Autism is undoubtedly a neuropsychological disorder which is present at birth and inherited, but there is a need to take a paradigm shift in its understanding as only a neurological disorder. Autism has many developmental implications. The severity of abnormality does not remain the same for all the life spam. There is increase in the abnormality and day to day functioning of a person who suffers from Autism in the absence of adequate social support. The research has indicated that there is a need to improve the tools to diagnose autism in clinical trials. The present tools may be contributing to misdiagnosis of it. Currently Autism is classified categorically while there is need to treat it as a quantitative human trait. Each autistic person may have a variety of different traits compared to another autistic person meaning these differences may not be enough to be strictly classified in categories.

Analysis

I strongly agree to the issues discussed in the article. There is a need to develop more quantitative scales which would further enhance our understanding Autism. The reliability of these scales would be highly dependent on the reliability and validity of these scales which would be observed on the time of the development of these scales and also with time. Scientists need to look at different dimensions of autism like its genetic causes, its developmental implications and the factors affecting autism during a human development and most importantly, the social implications of autism. There is a need to conceptualize autism as the developmental worsening of Autism has not been the topic of great research according to the article.

Autism traits may be manifested in different forms in different genders and different ages. So when developing qualitative tools for autism diagnosis or its social implications, these factors must be under consideration. Understanding these traits would also provide help in developing the necessary social support for Autistic patients according to their age and sex.

References

Van Wijngaarden-Cremers, P. J., van Eeten, E., Groen, W. B., Van Deurzen, P. A., Oosterling, I.             J., & Van der Gaag, R. J. (2014). Gender and age differences in the core triad of            impairments in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-    analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(3), 627-635.