Critical Review of `The awkward moments test: a naturalistic measure of social understanding in autism`

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Critical Review of `The awkward moments test: a naturalistic measure of social understanding in autism`

Autism spectrum disorder encompasses a range of deficits which are described by the

triad of impairments; qualitative impairments in social interaction and qualitative

communication areas and narrow or rigid routines and/or interests. Another aspect of

autism spectrum disorder is the weak centre of coherence and the notion of theory of

mind; of which there is many tests to test this. The awkward moments test is used to

represent a measure of mental state in individuals; in this case, individuals with

autism. The test is designed to assess an individual’s ability to read another person` s

thoughts manifested by their behaviours such as: verbal and non – verbal

communication, recognizing the social cues involved in communication. This ability

is known as the theory of mind, Dennett (1978) proposed `…if a person was unable to

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understand the thoughts or intentions of another person, much of social interaction

and communication would be a mystery`. Diagnosis is a complex process which can

contribute to individual needs such as education needs of an individual. The awkward

moments test can demonstrate difficulties for individuals with autism spectrum

disorder and there has been a great deal of research into autism, similarly, there is a

multitude of research into the notion of theory of mind a lot of which is with children

and in this study, adults are ...

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