A long-awaited book from developmental disorders expert John Morton,
Understanding Developmental Disorders: A Causal Modelling Approach makes sense of the many competing theories about what can go wrong with early brain development, causing a child to develop outside the normal range.
- Based on the idea that understanding developmental disorders requires us to talk about biological, cognitive, behavioral and environmental factors, and to talk about causal relationships among these elements.
- Explains what causal modelling is and how to do it.
- Compares different theories about particular developmental disorders using causal modelling.
- Will have a profound impact on research in the fields of psychology, neuroscience and medicine.
Preface and Acknowledgements viii
Chapter 1 Introducing Cause 1
Cause and public issues 1
Cause and individual events: ‘Why did Romeo die?’ 6
Some more reasons for not looking at individual cases 9
The need for a framework for thinking in 10
Creating a tool: the problem of notation 14
An example of the limits of language 15
An invitation to consider diagrams as a tool 18
A tool for representing causal relationships 18
Chapter 2 Introducing Cognition 20
One thing I do want you to believe 20
Reductionism 22
Can we rely on behaviour? 24
The IQ example: a note of caution 27
Why cause needs cognition 29
Chapter 3 Representing Causal Relationshili
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