Teaching Singaporean children with autism spectrum disorders to understand science concepts through autistic analysis/synthesis (ALA/S)

Our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) comes from the writings of Dr Leo Kanner (1943) and Dr Hans Asperger (1944) – both have been regarded as the pioneers in the field. Siegel (1996) used the term Autism Spectrum Disorders in her nosology to encompass autistic disorder (i.e., the classical autism as described by Dr Kanner) and non-autistic Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), which include Asperger‘s Syndrome, Fragile X-Syndrome, Rett‘s Syndrome, Childhood Distintegrative Disorder, and PDD-Not Otherwise Specified, and correspond exactly to what the DSMIV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) refers to collectively as Pervasive Developmental Disorders .

There are also other definitions given by other organizations. For instance, the Autism Society of America (2004) defines autism as ―a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. The result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, autism and its associated behaviours have been estimated to occur in as many as 2 to 6 in 1,000 individuals. Autism is four times more prevalent in boys than girls and knows no racial, ethnic, or social boundaries. Family income, lifestyle and educational levels do not affect the chance of autism‘s occurrence‖ (p.1).