AUSTIM SPECTRUM DISORDER, SIX VIEWS AND A PARADIGM

Abstract

This article systematizes the general concepts and paradigmatic approaches that have been developed in the last decades regarding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Western society. The disciplinary views, which have influenced the generation of numerous scientific articles, manuals and books, are being addressed, and their dissemination has impacted different ways of professional action in the clinical field, education and families. The development of this topic has been predominantly and preferably addressed under a medical, psychological and positivist analysis through the time, leaving aside more phenomenological, hermeneutical and intersubjective approaches, which are the ones that allow getting into autistic people´s lifeworld. This research, which is metatheoretical in nature, presents descriptive dimensions and it shows different views of model authors with the purpose of contributing to the intersections that result when the problems addressed are placed in a complex manner, recognizing the disciplinary and human diversity. Therefore, new lines of research are intended to be opened with the purpose of being able to think about autism issues under the epistemic, scientific and social situation present nowadays, in order to recognize the contribution of accumulated knowledge, but also to rethink about autism from the postmodernity perspective.