Developmental pattern of Filipino autistic adolescents: An exploratory study

• Main Author: Dy, Polly C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1991
• Subjects: Autism in adolescence > Philippines; Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1391; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8229&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

Autism is believed to be a lifelong incapacitating disability that encompasses a wide range of handicaps classified into three main handicaps -- language impairment, social impairment, and presence of stereotypic behavior. The research focused on the magnitude of these handicaps across developmental levels (i.e., infancy to adolescence) as it examined the autistic adolescents' developmental pattern and/or changes. Five male autistic adolescents aged 12 - 19 participated in the study. Four of them are verbal. Data were obtained through interviews and observation. Results showed that the verbal autistics' social and language development have followed a similar, almost predictable pattern -- one that starts with minimal eye contact and a few utterances and ends with rigid sequence, of interactions. Results also indicate that stereotyped behaviors have always been present, in that some behaviors may have been successfully eliminated but were promptly replaced by another.