[senco-forum] ASD diagnostic checklist URL

Hi Brendan,

"ignoring my plea to  pay attemtion to the overall effect of having several 
characteristics in  combination "

My point was that those with APD WOULD have several- if not all-  
characteristics in combination as an overall effect. But enough said.

Just for you all to be aware...there are schools of thought that APD is at  
the root of what we know as ASD, or at least the communication difficulties  
seen; this may be because those with ASD have APD or because some with ASD  are 
so strong visually they appear to be less able in the auditory modality. I  
look forward to seeing any future research on that. 

One leading US APD expert has developed a model of APD that only applies to  
ASD children as he feels they are affected differently to others with APD.

Temple Grandin is herself a visual-spatial learner, of which as I have  said, 
many also have APD. Although she says she was able to laboriously master  
phonics and explains learning to read by visualising words she had problems with  
words that were not nouns and could not be visualised. 
_http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html_ (http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html) .

"Autistics  have problems learning things that cannot be thought about in 
pictures. The  easiest words for an autistic child to learn are nouns, because 
they directly  relate to pictures." 
But this  applies to all visual spatial learners, not just those with  
autism. 
" Highly  verbal autistic children like I was can sometimes learn how to read 
with  phonics. Written words were too abstract for me to remember, but I 
could  laboriously remember the approximately fifty phonetic sounds and a few 
rules.  Lower-functioning children often learn better by association, with the aid 
of  word labels attached to objects in their environment. Some very impaired  
autistic children learn more easily if words are spelled out with plastic  
letters they can feel. " 
She refers  to processing : 
"Scans of autistic brains  have indicated that the white matter in the 
frontal cortex is overgrown and  abnormal. Dr. Courchesne explains that white matter 
is the brain's "computer  cables" connecting up different parts of the brain 
while the gray matter forms  the information processing circuits. Instead of 
growing normally and connecting  various parts of the brain together, the 
autistic frontal cortex has excessive  overgrowth much like a thicket of tangled 
computer cables. In the normal brain,  reading a word and speaking a word are 
processed in different parts of the  brain. Connecting circuits between these 
two areas makes It possible to  simultaneously process information from both of 
them. Both Courchesne and  Minshew agree that a basic problem in both autistic 
and Asperger brains is a  failure of the "computer cables" to fully connect 
together the many different  localized brain systems. Local systems may have 
normal or enhanced internal  connections but the long distance connections 
between the different local  systems may be poor. "

She is an amazing lady.

There is still so much we don't know about the brain, the more we learn the  
more questions are raised. There are no certainties.

"I hope that clears matters up  and the issue is settled amicably and with 
mutual respect  retained."

Definitely. 

Best  wishes,
Aly

Chair Auditory Processing Disorder in  the UK/APDUK
www.lacewingmultimedia.com/APD.htm 
www.apduk.org