AUTISM WORKSHOP: MONDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER 2016, 7 – 9pm. BELFAST.

Title: What is autism?

Presenter: Prof R Peter Hobson, Emeritus Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, University College, London.

Abstract.

The purpose of this lecture/workshop is to explore the question: What is autism? I begin by stressing that autism is neither more nor less than a syndrome, that is, a constellation of clinical features that happen to cluster together. There are different views on whether the syndrome really does cohere – I believe it does, and one source of evidence comes from our studies of congenitally blind children.

Then there is the challenge to explain what ‘causes’ autism. Here there are two very different kinds of account: one concerned with aetiology, that is, medical-style causes (of which genetic factors are the most important), and the other with pathogenesis, that is, the evolution of disorder over an affected individual’s development.

From the perspective of developmental psychopathology, I argue that what ‘causes’ autism is a relative lack of patterned intersubjective engagement between the child and others. More specifically (and somewhat oversimplifying), affected individuals have a weakness or lack in the propensity to ‘identify with’ other people’s attitudes. The issue is whether this can account for the pattern of characteristic deficits and strengths in the realms of language, thought, and communication, as well as emotional relations. Any view on the pathogenesis of autism has implications for attempts to foster the children’s development.

Peter Hobson is a psychiatrist who has a PhD in Experimental Psychology and is trained as a psychoanalyst. At the Institute of Child Health, UCL, he led a research team that investigated the social, communicative, and cognitive impairments among children and adolescents with autism, often employing the methods of experimental psychology. His books include Autism and the Development of Mind (Erlbaum, 1993) and, The Cradle of Thought (Pan Macmillan, 2002).

Date: Monday, 12th September 2016, 7 – 9pm.

Venue: Belfast .

Cost: £40 per person

Maximum number: 15

If interested pleased email

Loretta Strong, telephone 028 90 874501

AUTISM WORKSHOP

MONDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER 2016, 7 – 9PM

BELFAST CASTLE

I wish to reserve a place on the Autism Workshop as detailed above.

NAME
ADDRESS
CONTACT DETAILS:
EMAIL, PHONE.
PROFESSION
Area of Work:
(e.g. hospital, community or other services)

Please forward payment (£40.00) to the address below. Cheques should be made payable to

Threshold.

THRESHOLD, 432 ANTRIM ROAD, BELFAST BT 15 5GB: TEL: 028 90 874501. EMAIL: