Explaining Autism [electronic resource] : Its Discursive and Neuroanatomical Characteristics / John W. Oller, Jr. and Dana Rascon.
This paper reviews the existing empirical research on autism in the context of the semiotic theories of Charles S. Peirce. His ideas of the generalized logic of relations are seen as explaining the unusual associations (or lack thereof) in autism. Concepts of "indices" or signs singling ou...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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1995.
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| Summary: | This paper reviews the existing empirical research on autism in the context of the semiotic theories of Charles S. Peirce. His ideas of the generalized logic of relations are seen as explaining the unusual associations (or lack thereof) in autism. Concepts of "indices" or signs singling out distinct objects, and "adinity" or the number of distinct logical objects that must be kept track of, are first explained. These concepts are then applied to three kinds of disorders: (1) severe autism, which is also called Kanner-type autism (recognizable in early infancy); (2) Asperger syndrome, a milder and sometimes undetected variety of autism; and (3) Williams syndrome (not generally associated with autism at all). Analysis shows certain commonalities and also marked differences in each of the three disorder types. Peirce's semiotic theory (concerning linguistic, gestural, and sensory systems) is coupled with a review of relevant medical research and both observational and experimental approaches to the discourse analysis of affected individuals. Whereas Williams syndrome is thought to be due to a metabolic dysfunction which disrupts coordination of sensory-motor information with abstract reasoning, infantile autism and Asperger syndrome are seen as being due to damage to the limbic system affecting the ability to link deictic markers of various sorts with their logical objects in representational systems. (Contains 51 references.) (Author/DB) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED391300. ERIC Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (Long Beach, CA, March 25-28, 1995). |
| Physical Description: | 44 p. |