Mature Developmental Milestones compared with High Functioning Autism Milestones
A developmental milestone is a significant neurological step in the progressing physical, emotional, intellectual, mental, spiritual maturity of a person to adulthood. |
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a term used to describe a spectrum of neuro-developmental disorders. It is genetic and results from neurological factors that delay or prevent the developmental maturity of many or sometimes nearly all functional brain systems. |
Failure to reach certain significant mature milestones can have an aberrant effect on a person’s ability to function successfully in relationships and other areas of life. |
MATURE DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES REACHED BY NTS |
WHERE LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT MAY ARREST IN ADULTS WITH ASD |
EFFECTS ON ADULTS WITH ASD AS A RESULT OF NOT REACHING MATURE MILESTONES |
Joint attention |
Interest only in one's own needs; OCD; narcissism |
Difficulty sharing experiences & interests |
Theory of mind/Theory of own mind – awareness of self and others |
Inability to see one’s own or another's point of view |
Inability to be “in someone else's shoes”; fails to acknowledge and denies truth of partner’s view |
Ability to read and interpret body language / facial expression, pragmatic language skills |
Lack of pragmatic language skills, Limited understanding of body language / facial expressions |
Inability to register others’ emotions |
Ability to repair & maintain relationships, have life-long friendships |
Inability to repair and nurture relationships |
Few, if any, real friends |
Emotional reciprocity |
Lack of empathy for people |
Inability to relate to or sense others’ emotions |
Desire or need to socialise and make "small talk", interest in others |
Inability to see the need for small talk; socialises for own ego/manipulation; narcissism |
Difficulties in making relationships, uses role playing, copying & masking outside home to cover deficiencies |
mature developmental milestones reached by NTs Sense of humour / understanding of irony & human frailty |
where levels of development may arrest in adults with ASD Limited humour/ inability to laugh at oneself and one’s own mistakes |
effects on adults with ASD as a result of not reaching mature milestones Limited ability to admit to mistakes, sees others as the cause of their difficulties |
Abstract language; meta language understanding |
Limited to literal understanding of language; lack of cognitive complexity |
Limited ability to understand irony /metaphor / jokes / idioms; inability to understand complexity of thought and language |
Desire to share own and others’ interests |
Obsession with own interests; OCD |
Difficulty sharing anything |
Ability to generalise learning to new situations |
Rigid compartmentalisation of concepts |
Inflexibility in learning new ways and growing |
Abstract thinking; higher order thinking skills |
"Concrete" thinking, lacking schema changes after childhood; lacking insight/inferences/extrapolation skills |
Little appreciation of "hidden" meaning in life; unable or very slow/unwilling to learn new ways of being |
Imagination and ability to dream of possibilities |
Solitary imagination |
Tendency to remain "stuck in a rut” in life |
Ability to share problems and concerns as a means to solve them |
Inability to share problems or foresee consequences and possibilities; opportunistic meeting own needs only |
Tendency to get into problem situations; “Mr Magoo” Syndrome; oblivious to turbulence of problems |
Social conscience, sense of “fair play” and natural justice |
Undeveloped social conscience & overly strict adherence to own rules; narrowly focussed, unable to interpret nuance in life |
POSSIBLE psychopathic, sociopathic or criminal behaviour, black and white attitude to life; extreme zeal for perceived righteous pursuits or power; “god-like”; authoritarian, opportunistic |
mature developmental milestones reached by NTs Ability to react & act spontaneously and appropriately |
where levels of development may arrest in adults with ASD Inappropriate responses or no response |
effects on adults with ASD as a result of not reaching mature milestones Awkwardness, lack of caring in family and social situations; poor parenting |
Innate knowledge about social behaviour |
Lack of real understanding of social behaviour |
Desire for isolation or over socialisation |
Comfort, pleasure & pain in sensory experiences |
Sensory overload or unawareness |
Excess or avoidance of appropriate touch & physical contact |
Intuition about life; innate knowing |
Lack of intuition |
Lack of common-sense |
Balanced development of emotional and intellectual skills |
Development of intellectual skills over emotional skills |
Interactions limited to intellectual responses unless prompted |
Ability to show love and respect in tone of voice, eyes, treatment of others |
Limitation to "gifts of service" |
Cold and unloving behaviour, lack of compassion, lack of empathy |
Attachment to people, places and things |
Lack of attachment to people |
Attitude that others are dispensable |
Reflection and insight into self |
Lack of sense of self in relation to others |
Inability to reflect on own life |
Ability to make decisions using emotions and intellect |
Uncertainty of own feelings about things |
Poor decision making / naiveté |
mature developmental milestones reached by NTs Executive functioning |
where levels of development may arrest in adults with ASD Lack of executive functioning and organisational skills; |
effects on adults with ASD as a result of not reaching mature milestones Inability to navigate complex processes and use forethought to perceive consequences; passive aggression |
Ability to prioritise tasks and multi-task |
Limited to one task at a time, usually a special interest, strict routine or obsession |
Neglect of urgent responsibilities or panic |
Context awareness, fast intuition; unconscious cognition |
Context blindness; mindblindness; lack intuition |
Prompt Dependent; inability to react/behave/adapt spontaneously to social contexts/changes or making necessary exceptions to rules |
Able to generalise implicitly and explicitly on global and local tasks |
Unable to generalise learning |
Inability to adapt appropriate strategies when particular responses/ behaviours are essential |
Ability to gain wisdom from experiences |
Lack of generalisation of learning and awareness of important experiences |
Strongly inflexible or absent personal philosophy / ideology |
Physical co-ordination |
Poor fine/ gross motor skills; or outstanding sporting skills Tourette’s; hand flapping |
Unusual gait, unco-ordinated movement, tics; inappropriate facial expressions; immature attempts at “play” |
Mature ability to control thoughts, emotions, words, actions according to circumstances. |
Lack of impulse control, uncontrolled meltdowns, inappropriate anger; rage cycle |
ADHD, ADD, OCD, tantrums; manipulates and controls others by fear, anger, anxiety, verbal/physical violence; possible depressive symptoms |
© compiled by J.A. Morgan BEd Grad Dip and FAAAS, inc 2017
References:
Based on the work of educational theorists
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Piaget’s Stages of Development
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Bloom’s cognitive/affective learning and taxonomy of higher order thinking skills
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Kohlberg’s development of empathy stages
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Editors: Michael Fitzgerald (Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Ireland)
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Joseph M. Moran1,2, Liane L. Young1, Rebecca Saxe, Su Mei Lee, Daniel O’Young, Penelope L. Mavros, and John D. Gabrieli Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard University– Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
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Perspective-Tracking Brain Response Could Help Identify Children with Autism
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