Overview

"The main purpose of this book is to demonstrate and explain a single, core concept: that autism is the result of an altered early trajectory of the development of an essential feature of mature, human thinking: the ability to think ""about,"" imagine in the broadest sense of the word, symbolize, or ""meta-represent."" Autism is an unusual diagnosis that is difficult to comprehend, and it emerges early in life, varies in presentation and also across the lifespan, and has a spectrum of severity. This book begins with a discussion of the basic symptoms and many additional symptoms not typically included in a diagnosis of autism. These associated symptoms provide some essential clues to understanding autism, and the author introduces the concept of how autism could be better understood as an absence of the ability to ""think about."" Next, the author discusses how genetics only explain about 8% of autism cases, and the core components of current treatment interventions that have been shown to be effective. The ideas all provide clues and support for the theory put forth in this book. The next section begins a more in depth discussion of what this ""thinking about"" ability is, and what developmental psychologists have determined as its source. Again, autism can be understood as the absence of this ability. The ability to ""think about"" comes from successful early identification with other people, so we discuss identification at length, and introduce the idea that instead of identifying with a person, a toddler could identify with an inanimate object. The spectrum of autism results from varying degrees of person identification, on a continuum of inanimate objects to people. The author discusses his own research, and an intervention method supported by research that is based on these ideas."

Full Product Details

9780578760667

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

"Cooper R. Woodard, PhD, has been working in the field of developmental disabilities for the past 30 years. He came to work at the Groden Center in 2002 as the Clinical Director at the school, and is currently Chief Clinical Officer of the program. Dr. Woodard has many years of experience in the field of autism, working with children, adolescents, and adults with presentations of this disorder across the spectrum. His training ranges from object relations to behavioral psychology, which provided the knowledge base for much of his work. Dr. Woodard's research areas have included the application of positive psychology concepts to persons with autism, the use of Dextromethorphan as a treatment of behavioral symptoms associated with autism, and sensory sensitivity in autism. He created the only scale that currently exists that assesses positive character strengths in persons with developmental disabilities (ASPeCT-DD), and has a number of publications in the positve psychology area of courage. He has been an adjunct professor at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, and the University of Rhode Island. Most recently, he has focused on a novel theory of how autism may development as a result of altered identification with objects and people. This theory, entitled the Dynamic Behavior Theory of Autism (DBTA) suggests that autism stems from an early impairment in the ability to meta-represent or ""think about."""

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available