8-1 Discussion: Careers in Biopsychology
The material that I found most interesting was from Module 7: Developmental Disorders and
Memory. More specifically, learning about autism spectrum disorder as a neurodevelopmental disorder,
a heterogeneous disorder, and the savants of ASD from chapter 9. The heterogeneousness and
complexity of autism spectrum disorder intrigues me as I get to witness these variations in cases,
symptoms, and characteristics everyday with the children in my classroom. It is also interesting to me
how autism spectrum disorder most often becomes detectable before a child is 3 years old without an
increase in severity as they get older. Though there are many variations of symptoms and characteristics
of autism spectrum disorder, there are only two core symptoms both of which are required in order for
an individual to be diagnosed with ASD. These core symptoms include "a reduced capacity for social
interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or
activities" (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Volkmar, F. R., & McPartland, J. C., 2014). The
connections made that 75% of individuals with autism are male, that the chance of a child developing
autism increases if the parents are a young mother and the father is over 40 years old, and the increased
likelihood of developing autism in children born to older mothers also piques my interest. In addition to
the above-mentioned course material, I also enjoyed learning how our brains store information from
chapter 11: learning, memory, and amnesia.
