Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Autism: Analysis and Critique of 5 articles


* This article was originally written in fall 2007, Mariam Sambe

I have worked with children who have autism for three years. During this period, my main wish was to have some skills that could help me get through the children’s minds and understand their needs. Consequently, I always had the desire to study this disability, and hopefully come with a type of assistance in the communication ground. 
Autism Awareness Ribbon
Autism is a brain development disorder that affects communication and social interaction. Five particular journals and research papers have helped me build a better understanding of autism, and have enabled me to find ideas for further research in the language issue of autism.

The five articles I chose to analyze here are taken from: 1. the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 2. the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 3. the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and 4. two articles from the Canadian Autism Intervention Research Network (CAIRN).
These five publications are remarkable sources for my study. They allow me to learn large amounts of valuable information about autism and how to treat some of its issues. They also give me ideas for further research, particularly in the field of communication and interaction. Let me be more specific on how these articles are beneficial for this project.
The content of the publications are extremely useful in the aspect of information. The journals start by explaining what we already know about autism. Meaning, they express researches that have been done until today. The two articles that best deal with this aspect are the ones from the NICHD (2005) and the NIMH (2004). Here, I learned global information about the disability: how it affects children’s brain development, their communication ability, and their social interaction. I also became aware of how many people are affected by autism and how they try to cope with it. These valuable information not only answered many of the questions I was asking myself, but also helped me think about new ideas for my project. Thus, during the readings of these two journals, I built the basic understandings of autism, and then got more interested in going further in my research. It made me realize where the research about autism was lacking, which helped me know what to focus on.
The second factor that made me appreciate the effectiveness of the articles is an aspect taken from a journal that is specific to the speech and language department, the NIDCD (2007). Here, there is a focus on the communication issue of autism, which is what I am interested to learn and develop. The causes and consequences of this issue are thoroughly explained. I have leaned when and how there is a difference of communication ability between a child who has autism and a typically developing child. Other than the basis of interaction issues described in this journal, what also interested me is its focus on research made specifically for communication development. This prospect enabled me to know where and how to center my attention. It narrowed down my global thoughts about communication ability to a specific case: how the speech and language issues are treated. Therefore, studying this article helped me to become aware of how to focus on a single and precise matter.
As you can see, up to now I have been talking about the basic contents of the articles. However, I did not choose these journals only because they give me significant information on different aspects of autism. What attracts me as well is how the sources are reliable and valuable. Indeed, all the articles I selected are from accredited organizations that concentrate on varied types of research in the field of autism. They are written by researchers who have adequate experience with several children who live with autism. This showed me that I could trust the sources. Also, the articles were not contradictory between each other. The tests the researchers conducted came out with similar reasoning and evidence. This aspect illustrates that the journals are reliable. In addition, they all measure what they are supposed to. Meaning, they only concentrate on autism itself and not on any other related disability such as Asperger syndrome or pervasive developmental disorders. Thus, validity was respected as the evidences that supported the reasons were exactly based on what they were studying. As a result, the five journals respected both reliability and validity.

At present, let me make clear comparisons between my journals so as to illustrate their contrasts and their similarities. In order to facilitate my division, I split the five articles into two groups. On one side, I set the two journals from the CAIRN and call this section <X>. On the other side, I place the three articles taken from the NIDCD, the NICHD, and the NIMH. This section is identified as <Y>.
 Though X and Y share some similarities in the content of the study about autism, they still vary in some technical aspects. The two articles from X are concise and strictly talk about specific studies. The first one focuses on behavioural interventions that can treat autism. The second one analyzes what the role of parents of children with autism should be, in order to help in the development of their children's communication. Therefore, each of these publications deal with only one specific subject that is studied in depth.
On the other hand, the three journals from Y are concerned about the general overview of autism. They give information about every study that is being done or that has been done in the past. They have a descriptive genre which makes them long articles because they deal with every aspect of autism: the causes, the consequences, all the treatments, the varied researches made, and so forth. Y articles are interesting but very broad so I used them as dictionaries. When I had an enquiry I look at one of these three articles so that I could get a general understanding.  
The second difference between the two clusters of journals is the way they deal with their claims and warrants. The two articles from group X have one particular claim each. Since explanation is on one single issue, the journals are concentrating on a specific aspect. Thus, they only have one claim supported by several reasons. There are also various warrants that connect the reasons to the single claim. Conversely, Y publications are analyzing diverse aspects of autism. Hence, they have several claims in their articles. Each part of each article has its specific claim. This is because there is not just a single idea expressed.
 Adding to this, there is a difference in the position of the claims. Articles in X place their claim at the end of the journal. They lay it in the conclusion. This is not the case in the Y journals. Depending on the section they are discussing the varied claims are sometimes in the beginning, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes at the end of each part.
The differences between X and Y in organizing claims, reasons, evidence and warrants allowed me to see two types of argument styles. Even though the arrangements are different, they are coherent to the specific idea the articles express. Thus, in both case I clearly understood the main points of the reports.
The last difference between X and Y is in the writing style. As I went through the journals, I noticed that all of them have a specific ability to catch my attention but they employ different strategies to do so. Journals Y use clear and understandable terms. Though factors related to autism are complex to comprehend, Y publications do not use jargon terms. Therefore, I was able to comprehend and appreciate the explanations thoroughly. This caught my attention since I did not have to look for definitions every now and then.
In contrast, articles X are a little hard to grasp. Since they deal with a specific characteristic of autism, they use some complex terminologies that make it challenging to understand. There are no definition and description of complex ideas. X articles are not made as an overview but as an analysis of a specific issue. It seems like the writers of journals X believe that the readers already have all the basic knowledge about autism. Thus, the writers of X articles are more detailed in their explanation than those of Y journals. Though these articles are harder to understand than those from section X, the fact that they are more detailed gives me more precision.
Let me now illustrate the similarities between articles X and articles Y. First of all, they are both objective. They do not try to persuade or to win readers over. I really appreciate this aspect because it helps me shape my own view on what I feel. The tone of the journals is neutral which allows readers to be informed without feeling obliged to take a side.
The second similarity of the journals is that they are all up to date. Indeed, the five articles are dated from 2002 to 2007. This means that in case of inquiry it is possible to contact the organizations in charge of the journals or the authors who wrote them. Also, it makes the source highly convincing and credible because the researches were made recently.

In conclusion, I want to highlight that all five publications are outstanding supplies for my study and any other study you might want to pursue regarding autism. They allowed me to learn essential information about autism and gave me a good sense of how to examine possible treatments. Their focus on the communication and interaction field gave me ideas for further research. Furthermore, I enjoyed their argumentative styles even though they have different approaches. I highly recommend you to pick one of these articles (if not all five of them) and to give it a read if you are interested about autism. You will be able to thoroughly comprehend some of the facets of autism.

 References

Campbell, JM (2003). Efficacy of behavioural interventions for reducing problem behaviour in persons with autism: A quantitative synthesis of single-subject research. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 24, 120-138. 
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (2007). Autism and communication. National Institutes of Health. Bethesda, MD: Author.
Sigman, M. & Siller, M. (2002). The behaviours of parents of children with autism predict the subsequent development of their children's communication. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32(2), 77-89. 
Strock, M. (2004). Autism Spectrum Disorders (Pervasive Developmental Disorders). The National Institute of Mental Health, 1-37.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2005). Autism Overview: What We Know [Electronic version]. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1-16. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from
 http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/upload/autism_overview_2005.pdf

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