Professor Dermot M Bowler, City University, London. Professor Bowler has published several articles in journals that include the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and Autism.

• Preface ix1 Identifying Autism: From Discrete Entity to Multidimensional Spectrum 1Early conceptions: the ‘autistic child’ 1From discrete entity to spectrum of related conditions 5Diagnostic systems and instruments 11Dimensions versus entities: ‘lumping’ versus ‘splitting’ 16Early detection 21Conclusion 252 Understanding Other Minds: Cognitive Approaches 26Understanding false belief: a specific mental module? 26Understanding minds: a specific process or something else? 37Provisional conclusions 493 Understanding Other People: Emotion and Interaction 51Appraisal of emotion in others 53Understanding the directedness of behaviour 60Understanding others in autism: final conclusions 674 Beyond Social Impairment: Difficulties with Executive Functions 70Implications of the executive dysfunction account for our understanding of ASD 81Conclusion 885 Building a Coherent Picture of the World 90Alternative explanations of WCC phenomena 98Conclusion 1116 Attention and Perception 113Attention 113Accounting for attentional difficulties 125Conclusion 1337 Specific Aspects of Understanding: Faces, Concepts and Memory 135Face processing 135Concept formation 145Memory 152Conclusion 1658 Psychology, Autism and the Brain 167Studies of brain size and structure 167Lesion-based models of autistic behaviour 173Theories of global brain dysfunction 175Brain impairments inferred from more basic psychological processes 203Conclusion 2079 Development 209Assumptions about development in ASD: psychometrics, matching and developmental delay 209Developmental trajectories in ASD 212Developmental change in two psychological domains: theory of mind and executive functions 219Developmental theory and ASD 228Conclusion 24110 Whence and Whither: Glimpses of the Tapestry, Paths Through the Jungle 242How far have we really come? 243Stepping back to move forward? Emerging themes 247Final thoughts 261References 263Index 299

Professor Dermot M Bowler, City University, London. Professor Bowler has published several articles in journals that include the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and Autism.

• Preface ix1 Identifying Autism: From Discrete Entity to Multidimensional Spectrum 1Early conceptions: the ‘autistic child’ 1From discrete entity to spectrum of related conditions 5Diagnostic systems and instruments 11Dimensions versus entities: ‘lumping’ versus ‘splitting’ 16Early detection 21Conclusion 252 Understanding Other Minds: Cognitive Approaches 26Understanding false belief: a specific mental module? 26Understanding minds: a specific process or something else? 37Provisional conclusions 493 Understanding Other People: Emotion and Interaction 51Appraisal of emotion in others 53Understanding the directedness of behaviour 60Understanding others in autism: final conclusions 674 Beyond Social Impairment: Difficulties with Executive Functions 70Implications of the executive dysfunction account for our understanding of ASD 81Conclusion 885 Building a Coherent Picture of the World 90Alternative explanations of WCC phenomena 98Conclusion 1116 Attention and Perception 113Attention 113Accounting for attentional difficulties 125Conclusion 1337 Specific Aspects of Understanding: Faces, Concepts and Memory 135Face processing 135Concept formation 145Memory 152Conclusion 1658 Psychology, Autism and the Brain 167Studies of brain size and structure 167Lesion-based models of autistic behaviour 173Theories of global brain dysfunction 175Brain impairments inferred from more basic psychological processes 203Conclusion 2079 Development 209Assumptions about development in ASD: psychometrics, matching and developmental delay 209Developmental trajectories in ASD 212Developmental change in two psychological domains: theory of mind and executive functions 219Developmental theory and ASD 228Conclusion 24110 Whence and Whither: Glimpses of the Tapestry, Paths Through the Jungle 242How far have we really come? 243Stepping back to move forward? Emerging themes 247Final thoughts 261References 263Index 299

Professor Dermot M Bowler, City University, London. Professor Bowler has published several articles in journals that include the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and Autism.

• Preface ix1 Identifying Autism: From Discrete Entity to Multidimensional Spectrum 1Early conceptions: the ‘autistic child’ 1From discrete entity to spectrum of related conditions 5Diagnostic systems and instruments 11Dimensions versus entities: ‘lumping’ versus ‘splitting’ 16Early detection 21Conclusion 252 Understanding Other Minds: Cognitive Approaches 26Understanding false belief: a specific mental module? 26Understanding minds: a specific process or something else? 37Provisional conclusions 493 Understanding Other People: Emotion and Interaction 51Appraisal of emotion in others 53Understanding the directedness of behaviour 60Understanding others in autism: final conclusions 674 Beyond Social Impairment: Difficulties with Executive Functions 70Implications of the executive dysfunction account for our understanding of ASD 81Conclusion 885 Building a Coherent Picture of the World 90Alternative explanations of WCC phenomena 98Conclusion 1116 Attention and Perception 113Attention 113Accounting for attentional difficulties 125Conclusion 1337 Specific Aspects of Understanding: Faces, Concepts and Memory 135Face processing 135Concept formation 145Memory 152Conclusion 1658 Psychology, Autism and the Brain 167Studies of brain size and structure 167Lesion-based models of autistic behaviour 173Theories of global brain dysfunction 175Brain impairments inferred from more basic psychological processes 203Conclusion 2079 Development 209Assumptions about development in ASD: psychometrics, matching and developmental delay 209Developmental trajectories in ASD 212Developmental change in two psychological domains: theory of mind and executive functions 219Developmental theory and ASD 228Conclusion 24110 Whence and Whither: Glimpses of the Tapestry, Paths Through the Jungle 242How far have we really come? 243Stepping back to move forward? Emerging themes 247Final thoughts 261References 263Index 299