Tongue protrusion-retraction is critical to early nutrition but is also a gustatory-olfactory asp... more Tongue protrusion-retraction is critical to early nutrition but is also a gustatory-olfactory aspect of early infant social behaviour that is, in part, reliant on pre-natal exposure and learning. Most early development is necessarily dyadic and intrinsically associated with other aspects of social functioning.
The parallels between the agricultural successes of ultrasocial insects and those of humans are i... more The parallels between the agricultural successes of ultrasocial insects and those of humans are interesting and potentially important. There are a number of important caveats, however, including the relative complexities of insect reproduction, their more rigidly determined altricial patterns of social behaviour, the roles of post-reproductive group members, and differences in the known factors involved in ultrasocietal collapse.
Page 1. FACTORS AUTISIVI Page 2. Page 3. An A–Z of Genetic Factors in Autism Page 4. by the same ... more Page 1. FACTORS AUTISIVI Page 2. Page 3. An A–Z of Genetic Factors in Autism Page 4. by the same author Dietary Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorders Why They Work When They Do, Why They Don't When They Don't KennethJ. ...
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 2008
BY comparison with the extensive literature on specific reading retardation or dyslexia, comparat... more BY comparison with the extensive literature on specific reading retardation or dyslexia, comparatively little has been written on the subject of dyscalculia in children. It remains an ill-understood condition and appears to be uncommon’. Problems encountered in the recognition of the condition relate in part to factors such as the wide range of mathematical skills of normal children, and some uncertainty about the normal development and acquisition of the various skills required by the child. s There are many influences on whether
Our understanding of the evolution and ontogeny of the octopus and its behavioral repertoire in i... more Our understanding of the evolution and ontogeny of the octopus and its behavioral repertoire in its natural habitat remains rudimentary at best. There are many parallels, but also just as many differences from our models of human biology and ontogeny, making anthropocentric generalizations of limited use in explanation. Kenneth J. Aitken is Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews, and a clinician and developmental psychologist interested in social interaction, CNS dynamical systems, and their growth, form, and structure. Website Attempting to draw anthropomorphic parallels at times confounds convergent evolution with parallel evolution in discussions of developmental issues (for a general discussion see: Pagán 2019). In her target article, Mather (2019) has not sought to anthropomorphize and is to be commended for highlighting many of the differences in the octopus rather than commonalities. Much of the inherent complexity of the octopus seems to re...
... 117 Does it work? ... a particular dietary intervention may be worth trying, and how, if you ... more ... 117 Does it work? ... a particular dietary intervention may be worth trying, and how, if you implement a diet, to tell whether it has done any good. ... In their assessment of diet outcomes, the ARI asks families to rate whether the treatments they have tried have made the person worse ...
Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and... more Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and merit further consideration here. The first is the importance of communicative ontogeny and the impact of the proximal social environment on the early development of communication and language. The second is the emerging evidence for a number of non-linguistic roles of FOXP2 and its orthologs.
Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and... more Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and merit further consideration here. The first is the importance of communicative ontogeny and the impact of the proximal social environment on the early development of communication and language. The second is the emerging evidence for a number of non-linguistic roles of FOXP2 and its orthologs.
A number of recent developments in our understanding of the biology of heritability question comm... more A number of recent developments in our understanding of the biology of heritability question commonly held views on the immutability of genetic factors. These have numerous potential implications for improving understanding and practice in pre- and postconceptional care and for infant and child mental health, and they carry a cautionary message against overgeneralization.
Knowledge of the complexity of human communication comes from three main sources - (i) studies of... more Knowledge of the complexity of human communication comes from three main sources - (i) studies of the linguistics and neuropsychology of dysfunction after brain injury; (ii) studies of the development of social communication in infancy, and its dysfunction in developmental psychopathologies; and (iii) the evolutionary history of human communicative interaction. Together, these suggest the need for a broad, integrated theory of communication of which language forms a small but critical component.
Guiding the positive evolution of behavior is an admirable goal. Wilson et al.'s arguments ar... more Guiding the positive evolution of behavior is an admirable goal. Wilson et al.'s arguments are based largely on studies of problem correction. The methodology is sound, but not the post hoc ergo procter hoc extrapolation. What is required is evidence that it can proactively generate positive change. The evolution of human behavior to date has been affected by many factors that include unmalleable and unpredicted environmental changes.
... environnement au sens large. Les nourrissons de plus de quatre mois entreprennent facilement ... more ... environnement au sens large. Les nourrissons de plus de quatre mois entreprennent facilement une investigation visuelle active de leur entourage, ceci leur permettant d'échapper au regard insensible de la mère. Tandis que les ...
Intersubjectivity is an approach to the study of social interaction viewed from a perspective whi... more Intersubjectivity is an approach to the study of social interaction viewed from a perspective which rejects the view that reducing any such analysis to study at the level of the individual is adequate to address the issues of social functioning. It also stresses the view that social processes cannot be reduced to cognitive ones - most of the important questions in the study of developmental psychopathology deal with issues which have commonality with many other species and are patent well before the ontological emergence of 'cognitive' abilities. In this paper we review the evidence in this area, and discuss a range of issues relevant to autistic spectrum disorders. We focus in particular on social interaction; the role of the Intrinsic Motive Formation and recent work on mirror neurons in autism; genetic and teratogenic factors in the genesis of autism; and the role of a number of biological factors in pathogenesis - tryptophan; vitamin B12; sterol metabolism; glutamate and GABA; and the Fragile-X expansion.
Tongue protrusion-retraction is critical to early nutrition but is also a gustatory-olfactory asp... more Tongue protrusion-retraction is critical to early nutrition but is also a gustatory-olfactory aspect of early infant social behaviour that is, in part, reliant on pre-natal exposure and learning. Most early development is necessarily dyadic and intrinsically associated with other aspects of social functioning.
The parallels between the agricultural successes of ultrasocial insects and those of humans are i... more The parallels between the agricultural successes of ultrasocial insects and those of humans are interesting and potentially important. There are a number of important caveats, however, including the relative complexities of insect reproduction, their more rigidly determined altricial patterns of social behaviour, the roles of post-reproductive group members, and differences in the known factors involved in ultrasocietal collapse.
Page 1. FACTORS AUTISIVI Page 2. Page 3. An A–Z of Genetic Factors in Autism Page 4. by the same ... more Page 1. FACTORS AUTISIVI Page 2. Page 3. An A–Z of Genetic Factors in Autism Page 4. by the same author Dietary Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorders Why They Work When They Do, Why They Don't When They Don't KennethJ. ...
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 2008
BY comparison with the extensive literature on specific reading retardation or dyslexia, comparat... more BY comparison with the extensive literature on specific reading retardation or dyslexia, comparatively little has been written on the subject of dyscalculia in children. It remains an ill-understood condition and appears to be uncommon’. Problems encountered in the recognition of the condition relate in part to factors such as the wide range of mathematical skills of normal children, and some uncertainty about the normal development and acquisition of the various skills required by the child. s There are many influences on whether
Our understanding of the evolution and ontogeny of the octopus and its behavioral repertoire in i... more Our understanding of the evolution and ontogeny of the octopus and its behavioral repertoire in its natural habitat remains rudimentary at best. There are many parallels, but also just as many differences from our models of human biology and ontogeny, making anthropocentric generalizations of limited use in explanation. Kenneth J. Aitken is Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews, and a clinician and developmental psychologist interested in social interaction, CNS dynamical systems, and their growth, form, and structure. Website Attempting to draw anthropomorphic parallels at times confounds convergent evolution with parallel evolution in discussions of developmental issues (for a general discussion see: Pagán 2019). In her target article, Mather (2019) has not sought to anthropomorphize and is to be commended for highlighting many of the differences in the octopus rather than commonalities. Much of the inherent complexity of the octopus seems to re...
... 117 Does it work? ... a particular dietary intervention may be worth trying, and how, if you ... more ... 117 Does it work? ... a particular dietary intervention may be worth trying, and how, if you implement a diet, to tell whether it has done any good. ... In their assessment of diet outcomes, the ARI asks families to rate whether the treatments they have tried have made the person worse ...
Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and... more Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and merit further consideration here. The first is the importance of communicative ontogeny and the impact of the proximal social environment on the early development of communication and language. The second is the emerging evidence for a number of non-linguistic roles of FOXP2 and its orthologs.
Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and... more Two substantive issues are relevant to discussions of the evolution of acoustic communication and merit further consideration here. The first is the importance of communicative ontogeny and the impact of the proximal social environment on the early development of communication and language. The second is the emerging evidence for a number of non-linguistic roles of FOXP2 and its orthologs.
A number of recent developments in our understanding of the biology of heritability question comm... more A number of recent developments in our understanding of the biology of heritability question commonly held views on the immutability of genetic factors. These have numerous potential implications for improving understanding and practice in pre- and postconceptional care and for infant and child mental health, and they carry a cautionary message against overgeneralization.
Knowledge of the complexity of human communication comes from three main sources - (i) studies of... more Knowledge of the complexity of human communication comes from three main sources - (i) studies of the linguistics and neuropsychology of dysfunction after brain injury; (ii) studies of the development of social communication in infancy, and its dysfunction in developmental psychopathologies; and (iii) the evolutionary history of human communicative interaction. Together, these suggest the need for a broad, integrated theory of communication of which language forms a small but critical component.
Guiding the positive evolution of behavior is an admirable goal. Wilson et al.'s arguments ar... more Guiding the positive evolution of behavior is an admirable goal. Wilson et al.'s arguments are based largely on studies of problem correction. The methodology is sound, but not the post hoc ergo procter hoc extrapolation. What is required is evidence that it can proactively generate positive change. The evolution of human behavior to date has been affected by many factors that include unmalleable and unpredicted environmental changes.
... environnement au sens large. Les nourrissons de plus de quatre mois entreprennent facilement ... more ... environnement au sens large. Les nourrissons de plus de quatre mois entreprennent facilement une investigation visuelle active de leur entourage, ceci leur permettant d'échapper au regard insensible de la mère. Tandis que les ...
Intersubjectivity is an approach to the study of social interaction viewed from a perspective whi... more Intersubjectivity is an approach to the study of social interaction viewed from a perspective which rejects the view that reducing any such analysis to study at the level of the individual is adequate to address the issues of social functioning. It also stresses the view that social processes cannot be reduced to cognitive ones - most of the important questions in the study of developmental psychopathology deal with issues which have commonality with many other species and are patent well before the ontological emergence of 'cognitive' abilities. In this paper we review the evidence in this area, and discuss a range of issues relevant to autistic spectrum disorders. We focus in particular on social interaction; the role of the Intrinsic Motive Formation and recent work on mirror neurons in autism; genetic and teratogenic factors in the genesis of autism; and the role of a number of biological factors in pathogenesis - tryptophan; vitamin B12; sterol metabolism; glutamate and GABA; and the Fragile-X expansion.
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