Autism Spectrum Disorder And Developmental Psychology Essay

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Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Psychology Developmental psychology is a scientific approach that focuses on the ways in which individuals change and evolve across their lifespan, beginning with birth and ending in death. This specific study of the mind and behavior tends to concentrate on the time period from birth to adolescence because this is when the majority of development occurs. This branch of psychology revolves around various types of changes, including behavioral, cultural, social, psychological, biological, and genetic factors, all of which greatly impact the way a child will develop into an adult. Autism spectrum disorder is considered to be the most severe developmental disorder due to its ubiquitous and difficult nature. (“ | Autism,” 2016) This disorder involves a delay or deficiency in those developmental areas, especially in regards to physical, emotional, and social weaknesses. ASD affects approximately 1 in 68 children according to the CDC, and this disorder is becoming more prevalent as time goes on, despite the immense amount of research being done in this area. While it seems to affect more and more children each year, ASD has shown to be 4.5 times more common in boys than in girls, which is another concern regarding the varied development between boys and girls. (“CDC | Data and Statistics” 2016) I find this disorder to be extremely interesting because of how little is actually known about it, as well as how much the symptoms can
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