Understanding the Self in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): A Review of Literature

Abstract

When the system of self is explored in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), it is important to measure it via both their own perceptions of the self and their understanding of others’ perceptions on themselves at a multidimensional level. This paper reviews existing research in this area using a three-dimension approach. Researchers have found that impairments in the self-system are usually correlated with these individuals’ social and cognitive functioning levels: high functioning individuals with ASD who have higher IQ are found to have better awareness of their limitations in social and communication domains than those with lower IQ. Many researchers believe that there are impairments in the psychological (but not physical) self in individuals with ASD, such as theory of mind deficits due to social and communicative impairments. On the other hand, some researchers argue that individuals with ASD have selective rather than global impairments in the self. In other words, the impairment usually lies in a specific aspect of functioning in individuals with ASD. Insights from the review of existing literature on this topic may be able to shed some lights on the development of effective intervention programs to improve social communication deficits in this population.

Observational and Reported Measures of Language and Pragmatics in Young People with Autism: A Comparison of Respondent Data and Gender Profiles

“…Males with ASD are more Likely to Under-Identify Difficulties with Pragmatic, Language and Social Behaviours than Females with ASD Child self-reporting in ASD is relatively un-explored and this study provides new data on gender-differences in this respect. In particular, MwASD were more likely to underidentify difficulties in comparison to both parents and clinicians, which supports the notion that ASD groups have poorer self-awareness than TD controls (Huang et al 2017).…”

“…Additionally, individuals with ASD may particularly struggle to self-assess accurately, due to underlying problems identifying social and emotional responses in others and the reflexive relationship this has with their own behaviour (Elmose 2016). Potential deficits in language and communication (Boucher 2012) and abstract reasoning (Solomon et al 2011) experienced in ASD may also impact on the processing required for accurate self-reporting (Huang et al 2017). It is unclear from existing literature whether these features would be experienced equally by females and males with ASD.…”

Stressors experienced by children with autism spectrum disorder in Taiwan: Perspectives of children and their parents

“…Although participants' ages ranged from 8 to 19 years, the distribution of challenges was similar for young and adolescent children. Our findings describe stressors similar to those for children with ASD in Western cultures (APA, ; Huang et al, ); however, expectations for children in an Asian culture, such as Taiwan, further compound the stress. Stressors often interacted; stressors of daily living were influenced by the participant's inability to communicate and interact; stressors of socialization were dependent upon whether the participant's daily routine had been disrupted, making it more difficult to manage emotions.…”

Risk and protective factors underlying depression and suicidal ideation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Thus, degree of insight and self‐awareness may be important for understanding the development of mental health conditions in people with ASD, and the AQ may capture this awareness, even though individuals might not actually be more severely impaired in terms of social and communication abilities compared to peers who return lower scores on the AQ. This is supported by the findings that in ASD, self‐awareness is positively associated with depression (Hedley & Young, ; Wing, ); IQ is associated with awareness of social limitations (Huang et al., ); and depressed adults with ASD were less impaired (i.e., less severely affected) on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) communication and social domains than non‐depressed adults (Sterling, Dawson, Estes, & Greenson, ). Furthermore, mental health symptoms may simply be more difficult to assess in those individuals who are more severely affected.…”