Three Main Cognitive Theories Of Autism

334 Words2 Pages
Describe the three main cognitive theories of autism (i.e., Theory of Mind, Executive dysfunction, Weak Central Coherence) and evaluate how well they explain autistic symptoms. Autism was originally a term that was coined by Bleuler in his paper “Dementia praecox oder Grupper der Shizophrenien” published in 1911. In this paper the term was used to refer to a form of schizophrenia characterised by extreme isolation. The word autism originates from the Greek word ‘autos’ meaning self. Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that is characterised by challenges with communication, difficulty with social interactions and a likelihood to engage in repetitive behaviour. It has been indicated that the prevalence of autism is close to 1/100 of