Life could seem like a continuous 3 ringed circus without the ability to categorize! Describe the concept of categorization. Categorization reduces the demand on memory and allows an individual to focus on the important information and ignore what isn’t needed (Gastgeb & Minshew, 2006). This brings to mind the u-tube of Carly where she describes how when she looks at someone’s face her brain takes hundreds of pictures and that’s why people with autism don’t make eye contact. All of those pictures are overwhelming.
How are categorization skills impacted in people with autism? If a person with autism has difficulty categorizing information , it could significantly impact their ability to communicate, their behavior, and their social functions. Obviously, if a child is unable to organize, and make sense of their world they could easily become over stimulated and overwhelmed. This could be why we see children with ASD want a routine that they can predict or why they may withdraw from others. They may even not understand what others are communicating because they can’t seem to filter out what isn’t important and what is (Gastgeb & Minshew, 2006).
What are the implications of impairments in categorization upon cognitive and perceptual skills? When categorization is difficult, a task must be broken down. This will make it less complex and therefore easier to processing. Once a child is able to process a task they can then be successful in learning the information! In our treatment sessions as therapist, we do this by aiming to present activities that are “just right”. This means that we present activities that challenge the child but allow them to also be successful. We need to consider the activity and how it can be broken down as well as other information the child may be taking in. If the child becomes easily over stimulated by any of his other sensory systems this also needs to be addresses as not to overwhelm his capacity to process (Bertone,et,al 2005).
Gastgeb, H.,& Minshew, N., (2006). Do Individuals With Autism Process Categories Differently? The Effect of Typicality and Development. Child Development, 77:1717-1729.
Bertone,A., (2005). Enhanced and Diminished Visuo-spatial Information Processing in Autism Depends on Stimulus ComplexityOxford Journals,128:2430-2441.,
Elaine,
ReplyDeleteI think that is an important point that categorization is important to aid in memory and to think how this impacts our children with ASD's cognitive skills.
Jen
Good point on categorization. This reminds me of when I recognize someone "out of context" and can't place my finger on who that person is. I've categorized them but now they are out of that category and I am lost. If a child cannot categorize, they are always overwhelmed and will quickly breakdown. Other than breaking down a task, are there other strategies that help a child with ASD to categorize and generalize this info?
ReplyDeleteGood organization Elaine.
ReplyDeleteI would think to teach the child with ASD to look for "common features" and working on "finding the odd man out" type worksheets should help........remember, child with ASD can not intuitively categorize, but they can be taught to do so......to a degree!
I agree Deepali, The neat thing with kids who are on the spectrum is that they like to know and can then follow the rules. So Audra, I think by starting with something they are good at and understand and build from there would allow for success:) Elaine
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