Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read A Practical Guide for Teachers and Parents

by Howlin, Patricia; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Hadwin, Julie A.

• ISBN13: 9780471976233
• ISBN10: 0471976237
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-07
• Publisher: WILEY

Summary

The difficulties experienced by children with autism and related conditions in inferring the thoughts, beliefs, desires and intentions of others are well documented in numerous studies. It now seems that these deficits underlie many of the social and communication problems that are characteristic of autism. Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read explores the relationship of "theory of mind" deficits to other areas of children's functioning and describes existing experimental work that has attempted to enhance the skills associated with understanding others' minds. Drawing on their own intervention programme, and providing detailed information about the teaching materials and strategies they use, the authors provide practical guidelines for helping children with autism spectrum conditions to improve their understanding of beliefs, emotions and pretence. The authors tackle specific problematic issues including: how to interpret facial expressions how to recognise feelings of anger, sadness, fear and happiness how feelings are affected by what happens and what is expected to happen how to see things from another person's perspective how to understand another person's knowledge and beliefs This easy-to-follow graded teaching guide is of particular relevance to special needs teachers, educational and clinical psychologists, speech and language therapists, and carers of children with autism spectrum conditions.

Author Biography

Patricia Howlin is Principal Clinical Psychologist at the Maudsley Hospital, London, working mainly with autistic children and those suffering from pervasive developmental disorders. She is also Senior Lecturer in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. She has been involved in research and treatment with autistic children for many years. Her research interests include a follow-up study of autistic individuals, and a comparison of young autistic adults and a matched group of individuals with severe early language delays.

Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology and Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, UK, and one of the co-discoverers of the 'theory of mind' deficit in autism. His books include Mindblindness (1995); The Essential Difference (2003); and Autism and Asperger Syndrome: The Facts (2009).

Julie A. Hadwin is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Southampton. She has used cognitive models to study emotional disorders in childhood and has written several seminal papers to understand attention to threat in childhood anxiety. Her publications include Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read (with Patricia Howlin and Simon Baron-Cohen, Wiley, 1999).

Table of Contents

List of Figures	viii	(1)
List of Tables	ix	(2)
A note to teachers and parents	xi	(1)
Acknowledgements	xii
PART I: INTRODUCTION	1	(22)
Background and aims of the guide	1	(1)
Previous attempts to improve social and communicative deficits in autism	1	(1)
Limitations of traditional approaches to intervention	2	(1)
The normal child as a mind-reader	2	(3)
The importance of mind-reading: What do we use it for?	5	(2)
Making sense of social behaviour	5	(1)
Making sense of communication	6	(1)
Other uses of mind-reading	7	(1)
Mindblindness in autism	7	(2)
Examples from clinical experience	9	(3)
Can mind-reading be taught?	12	(1)
Approaches to teaching mental-state concepts	13	(1)
Overcoming problems of generalization	14	(2)
Outcome of the experimental study	16	(1)
For whom is the Guide designed?	16	(1)
The limitations of teaching approaches of this kind	17	(1)
The structure of the Guide	17	(2)
References	19	(4)
PART II: TEACHING ABOUT EMOTIONS	23	(210)
The five levels of emotional understanding	23	(1)
Level 1: Recognizing facial expression from photographs	24	(2)
Materials and assessment procedures	24	(1)
Establishing a baseline	25	(1)
Teaching procedures	25	(1)
Level 2: Recognizing emotion from schematic drawings	26	(2)
Materials and assessment procedures	26	(1)
Establishing a baseline	27	(1)
Teaching procedures	27	(1)
Level 3: Identifying "situation-based" emotions	28	(51)
Materials and assessment procedures	28	(1)
Establishing a baseline	28	(1)
Teaching procedures	29	(1)
General teaching principle	30	(49)
Level 4: Identifying "desire-based" emotions	79	(51)
Materials and assessment procedures	79	(1)
Establishing a baseline	79	(1)
Teaching procedures	80	(1)
General teaching principle	81	(49)
Level 5: Identifying "belief-based" emotions	130	(103)
Materials and assessment procedures	130	(2)
Establishing a baseline	132	(2)
Teaching procedures	134	(1)
General teaching principle	135	(98)
PART III: TEACHING ABOUT INFORMATIONAL STATES	233	(26)
The five levels of informational state understanding	233	(1)
Level 1: Simple visual perspective taking	234	(3)
Materials and assessment procedures	234	(1)
Establishing a baseline	234	(2)
Teaching procedures	236	(1)
General teaching principle	236	(1)
Level 2: Complex visual perspective taking	237	(3)
Materials and assessment procedures	237	(1)
Establishing a baseline	237	(2)
Teaching procedures	239	(1)
General teaching principle	239	(1)
Level 3: Understanding the principle that "seeing leads to knowing"	240	(5)
Materials and assessment procedures	240	(2)
Establishing a baseline	242	(2)
Teaching procedures	244	(1)
General teaching principle	244	(1)
Level 4: Predicting actions on the basis of a person's knowledge	245	(4)
Materials and assessment procedures	245	(2)
Establishing a baseline	247	(1)
Teaching procedures	248	(1)
General teaching principle	248	(1)
Level 5: Understanding false beliefs	249	(10)
Materials and assessment procedures	249	(5)
Establishing a baseline	254	(2)
Teaching procedures	256	(2)
General teaching principle	258	(1)
PART IV: DEVELOPING PRETEND PLAY	259	(14)
The five levels of pretend play	259	(1)
Assessing and teaching pretend play	260	(13)
Suggested materials and play themes	260	(1)
Establishing a baseline	261	(3)
Assessing spontaneous pretend play	261	(1)
Assessing the pretend-real distinction	262	(2)
Teaching procedures	264	(7)
Increasing the level of pretend play	264	(6)
Teaching the pretend-real distinction	270	(1)
General teaching principles	271	(2)
PART V: FUTURE DIRECTIONS	273	(4)
Using a person's direction of gaze	273	(1)
Using photographs	273	(2)
Using "cartoon thought-bubbles"	275	(1)
Joint attention and empathy	275	(1)
References	276	(1)
Appendix: Examples of record forms	277