Autism Spectrum Disorders : Psychological Theory and Research

Psychological research into autism spectrum disorders (ASD) hasincreased exponentially in the last two decades. Much of this workhas been led by various theorists who claim to have identifiedprocesses that hold the key to understanding the condition. As aconsequence, newcomers to the field feel that they have to opt forone or more of the competing approaches and to neglect theremainder as being in some way wrong. In fact, the differenttheoretical perspectives are just that - different points of viewon the same phenomenon - each with its own insights to offer. Thisis not to say that understanding ASD in psychological terms is justa matter of choosing a perspective and that all perspectives are ofequal value. Clearly they are not. This book, in addition to providing an outline of what currentperspectives have to offer, also provides a framework to helpreaders to decide which aspects of psychological research into ASDcontribute to our understanding of the field and how these can beintegrated in a way that enables research to be taken forward.