Description

This course is designed to explore Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in the developing person and in changing social contexts (e.g.,family, school, employment) across development. An empirical and theoretical review of developmental transformations and reorganizations across the lifespan provides the basis for examining biological, social, psychological, and cultural contributions to the continuity and discontinuity of both adaptive and maladaptive processes over time as well as an analysis of individual and environmental risk and protective factors across development. Special attention is given to the changing competencies and challenges of developmental periods and their role in the assessment, display, meaning, and implications of ASDs from infancy through adulthood.