Psy/270

University of Phoenix Material

Appendix F

Autism and Mental Retardation

Respond to the following:

1. List the primary features of autism. – 1. Extremely unresponsive, repetitive, rigid, and uncommunicative behavior. They have impairment in the brain, and it will be there for a life time.

2. Which explanation for autism is no longer considered valid and lacks research support? – 2. Thinking that family dysfunction and stress are the primary causes for autism.

3. What forms of treatment are helpful for a person with autism? – 3. Behavioral therapy has been helpful in treating autism for 35 years teaching appropriate behaviors, social skills, speech, self help skills, and class room, while reducing negative dysfunctional ones.

4. List the criteria for a diagnosis of mental retardation: - 4. According to the DSM – IV – TR a person should begin a diagnosis of mental retardation when displaying intellectual functioning well below average combined with poor adaptive behavior.

5. Explain one way in which sociocultural biases in testing might pose problems for assessing mental retardation. – 5. This has become a problem in the medical field, because some children who have issues speaking the language at a level that would exhibit their true IQ. This has cause concerns, because they feel the IQ test can be socioculturaly bias and because some children who are not retarded have been label as so.

6. Of the four levels of mental retardation, into which category do most people with mental retardation fall? – 6. It would be the mild level “between” 50 – 70 (Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence).

7. What are the main types of biological causes of mental retardation? – 7. Fetal alcohol syndrome, fragile x syndrome, and Down syndrome these are the most common biological causes of mental retardation.

8. What is the only way to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome? – 7. For women not to drink while pregnant.

9. What are...