SPCE 680, exam 1 Study Guide with
Complete Solutions
Changes from DSM-IV to DSM-5 - Answer✔️✔️-- DSM - 5 abandoned the
PDD subtypes from DSM- IV, returning to the earlier notions of autism as a
single mental health condition, known as autism spectrum disorder
- For a diagnosis of autism, behavior must be impaired in two, instead of
three, ways.
- Restricted and repetative behavior remains and essential element in the
diagnostic criteria. However, sensory behaviors are now included as one of
the most common forms of RRBs
- Diagnostic criteria for ASD are now supplemented by descriptors,
concerning the severity of the criterial impairments or anomalies and the
presence of any specifiers
- Delayed or impaired language is listed as a possible specifier
- Behaviors essential for a diagnosis of ASD may not be 'become fully
manifest' and cause for concern until 'demands exceed limited capacities'
- A new category was created, social communication disorder
Reasons the Autism Subtypes in favor of a Spectrum - Answer✔️✔️-- Fuzzy
boundaries: it proved difficult in practice to make unambiguous
distinctions between the subtypes of autism
1
, ©SOPHIABENNETT@2024-2025 Sunday, August 25, 2024 2:42 PM
- Diagnostic instability: individuals change- they show improvement and
they regress
The term ___________________ increasingly commonly used from the
1990s onward. - Answer✔️✔️-autism spectrum
Why add descriptors? - Answer✔️✔️-- facilitate the development of
appropriate, individualized treatment plans
- make diagnostic criteria broad enough to encompass the whole range of
people with autism related behavior
Why change the status of impaired language? - Answer✔️✔️-Since impaired
language is not invariably present in people with ASD, it was listed as a
specifier rather then put it under the umbrella of socio-communicative
impairment
Why allow for late diagnosis? - Answer✔️✔️-greater recognition of mild
forms of ASD occurring in able individuals who compensate well and who
'get by' socially - at least until some life event brings their autism related
problems under the spotlight.
social communication disorder - Answer✔️✔️-Persistent difficulties in the
social use of verbal and nonverbal communication
Groups who objected to the changes in the DSM 5 - Answer✔️✔️-- people
with an existing subtype diagnosis and their families
2