Research Paper on Autism

Although autism has been described as a psychological and developmental  disorder for over a century now, it is still not strictly defined in singular causation and treatment options. This paper is an exploration of the research of the studies and articles in the referenced publications. Autism in the present day is a multifactorial spectrum disorder that has treatment through applied behavioral therapies and emerging technological intervention in gene sequencing, MRI brain studies, and neurofeedback therapy.

A Brief History of Autism Theories

To begin, the earliest theories of the early 20th century were primarily psychoanalytic based due to its dominance in psychology at that time. It consisted of different unresolved issues in childhood issues that led to autistic manifestations. Theorists such as Vygotsky observed during the 1930’s that autistic children presented atypical characteristics of hypersensitivity and apathy at the same time, caused by what at the time they called autism(characterization of social withdrawal). The understanding at that time was that autism is a consequence and causation of the distingretation of personality(social ability in us) and that “the nature of higher psychological functions is social”(Vivanti & Messinger, 2021).

Later, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM III)in the 1980’s first defined autism as a purely descriptive indication of disorder and departed from psychoanalytical theories of etiology (Vivanti & Messinger, 2021). Recently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM 5) lists the core diagnosis symptoms as:(1) impaired social communication and interaction, and (2)restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities (Anderson et al. 2021). As research continued the perspective, understanding, causation, and treatment of ASD build up information of more empirical and evidenced based in studies. Simultaneously, the more science and neurotechnology advances the more research in biological factors of ASD like gene research, neural networks, and brain activity differences. Post-DSM III publication autism had many theorize what caused autism to be a ‘primary cognitive deficit’ with such theories as: impairment in theory of the mind, weak “central coherence” and executive dysfunction. These theories attempted to describe autism as a central cognitive deficiency and attribute them to different developmental cognitive deficiencies, which led to no one model explaining autism. Vivanti & Messinger(2021) stated that these theories collected plenty of data and research that led to the view that autism “as a dimensional construct, involving a continuum of fractionable manifestations within and beyond the autism spectrum” (p.4310).

Present day theory that autism is a biologically grounded dimensional construct that co-occur with behavioral features on a spectrum. This multidimensional framework leads to the research that autism is not one theory to explain all aspects of deficiency in social interactions and communications, or that there is one cause for gene heritable differences or brain changes. As the research continues to broaden in scope, the paradigm that there are still many working theories and treatments for autism.The behavioral conditioning models for treatment are amongst the oldest and most tested theories, but as technology advances so does the study of neurological working and interventions in ASD. 

Cognitive behavioral Treatment Therapy

The behavioral conditioning treatment of ASD include three of the most common therapies are: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication-Handicapped Children (TEACCH) and Behavioral Educational Intervention (BEI) (Mazza et al. 2021). As Van Hoogdalem et al. (2021) describes ABA therapy, by means of operant conditioning, consequences of observed behavior are adjusted in such a way that desired behavior is increased by an empowering consequence and unwanted behavior is extinguished by an invalidating consequence. Literature points out that increased treatment intensity of behavioral therapy has significant positive effects, but the effect of treatment duration requires further research(p.103). Mazza et al. (2021) also showed that all adolescents with ASD reported an improvement of core symptoms, regardless of the type of treatment.

Criticism of ABA has come in recent times as the broadening of the continuum of ASD is understood more as a societal acceptance. This means that ABA treatment is less seen and used a “conversion therapy” to try and “normalize” ASD childern and adolescents. There are more resources and acceptance of ASD adults than previously and the ABA is used to aid in optimizing the lives of those who seek treatment, not as a means to force those in treatment and adhere to perhaps conformity.This leads to most significant research in the advancement of medical technology to more thoroughly explore the biological differences of autism.

Technology and Autism research

As science and technology advances so does the research and understanding of ASD causation and treatment options. Just think of the advancement in the last 20 years in terms of gene therapy research and sequencing for gene abnormalities. It was previously believed that it would be one gene sequence code error in a disorder such as autism, but as more data came out the opposite was produced (Vivanti & Messinger, 2021). The biological casutions of ASD are more complex and multifaceted than previously believed. As technology such as Magnetic Resonance Infareded (MRI) have become more common and accessible, we learn more about the brain's neural networks in atypical ASD brain actively and structural differences.The therapy advances have been scarce in use of technology, but they are quite fascinating. 

Most recently, neurofeedback (NF) has been presented as a neurological based therapy in which the neuronal activity is represented with use of auditory stimuli, visual stimuli, or other forms of representation which are subsequently modified to change the oscillation pattern of neuronal activity(Van Hoogdalem et al. 2021). This technology is intriguing because, “Currently, NF has already been shown to produce symptom relief and longitudinal changes in brain activity in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), another neurodevelopmental disorder”(Van Hoogdalem et al. 2021).This is a step in a noninvasive use of technology and has been shown to not cause any side effects. Advancements can help ASD symptoms to be reduced in severity and increasing social functioning to help difficult transitions into adulthood; when independence and increased functioning is needed. It is still not known exactly how long treatment is needed and for how long the effects last; the existing literature provides reason for optimism for NF being a valuable alternative treatment for ASD.

Conclusion

The development of the diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder is a contemporary issue of research due to the diagnostic rate in the United States affecting 1 in 59 people (Anderson et al. 2021). The perspective of this disorder has changed from trying to describe it as static and monthlitic understanding to a multifaceted continuum spectrum. The tried and true treatments of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) seem to still be good interventions for children and adolescents with ASD to help them treat some of the severity of symptoms and make development more normative. As the inclusivity of disabilities and societal acceptance increases so does the common understanding of the challenges people with ASD face. The issues persisted with diagnosis and treatments include that there are so many factors in the disorder that so many areas of research still need investigation and study. The most promising in my opinion is that of technological progress in the medical and psychology fields. These areas are aiding in the biological mechanisms of casution of ASD and possibilities for treating those issues. The more we can see inside the human body with MRI scans and neurofeedback therapy offers more evidence based data to check hypothesis of  development and further research.