Maya has recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She insists on arranging her collection of plastic dinosaurs strictly by their geological era and gets extremely distressed if anyone moves them. She also interprets metaphorical language literally; for instance, when her teacher told her to "pull her socks up," she looked down and pulled her socks up physically, completely missing the figurative meaning. Additionally, when her peers are playing "space explorers" using cardboard boxes, Maya refuses to join, declaring "those are cardboard boxes, not spaceships."
Maya's father recently read an article arguing that autism is mainly a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by structural brain abnormalities, such as atypical development of the frontal lobes, and genetic inheritance.
Discuss how far one other explanation can account for Maya's autism. You must make reference to the context in your answer.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 1,059 questions covering Diagnosis of mental disorders (4 Ds), Classification systems (DSM and ICD), Schizophrenia and one other disorder, Treatments for the two disorders, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
