Scientific Meeting: A Psychoanalytic Examination of the Development of Gender Identity in Autism Spectrum Disorder
- February 14, 2023
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
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- Evaluation survey and CME/CE documentation will be emailed the day after the event.
The 1063rd Scientific Program Meeting:
“A Psychoanalytic Examination of the Development of Gender Identity in Autism Spectrum Disorder”
(Note: Registration closes 2/14 at 4 PM.)
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm (EST)
Presenter: Susan Sherkow, M.D.
Discussant: Fred R. Volkmar, M.D.
This paper presentation offers a clinical case study that supports the literature on Gender Identity Disorders (GID) which has noted a correlation, but no hypotheses, for a causal connection between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and GID. Children, from birth, actively search for ways to make sense of the social world that surrounds them, and cues about gender are an important part of this process. Through a dynamic interchange between experiences of their bodies, including hormonal and neuronal signals from the brain and their environment, such as parental interaction and decisions, these emotional, cognitive and developmental experiences become integrated into the child’s self-representation. Autism spectrum disorder is a genetic, neurobiological condition manifesting in early childhood that affects brain functioning and contributes to a relatively generalized difficulty in theory of mind and thus the process of forming representations of self and other, including representations of self/other, and male/female. According to both existing literature and this writer’s experience, children on the spectrum are more likely to show either an absent, indefinite, inexact, or, in more high functioning adolescents, dysphoric gender identity. This paper aims to examine how, why, and when ASD impacts the child’s ability to form gender identity. Dr. Sherkow will describe a case of a young boy who was seen in analysis four times weekly from the ages of 4 to 8 ½, and then in a psychosocial group until age 11. This study follows the process of his resuming the developmental trajectory of his ego and superego formation, his mastery of theory of mind, and the establishment of a gendered sense of self as a boy.
Susan P. Sherkow, M.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute. She is also a Supervising Analyst and Instructor in the Child and Adolescent Division of NYPSI, and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai and Albert Einstein Colleges of Medicine. She is the president of ACP. Dr. Sherkow has published in JAPA, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, and Psychoanalytic Inquiry, among others, on the topics of autism spectrum disorder, primal scene, watched play, and working in analysis with children under five. She is co-author of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Perspectives from Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience (2014). Her most recent writings include chapter contributions: “Managing arrogance in child analysis” in Arrogance: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms, and “Back to Freud’s beginning: Looking at Neuroscience through a Contemporary Psychoanalytic Lens” in Psychoanalytic Trends in Theory and Practice, The Second Century of The Talking Cure. Dr. Sherkow received the Ritvo prize in child psychoanalysis from the Yale Child Study Center in 2010. In 2012, she founded The Sherkow Center for Child Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder, a not-for-profit organization created to provide support for training, treatment, and research in the area of developmental delays and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Fred R. Volkmar, M.D. is the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine and the Dorothy Goodwin Family Chair of Special Education at Southern Connecticut State University. An international authority on Asperger’s disorder and autism, he is certified in adult and child psychoanalysis and a member of the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Volkmar was the primary author of the DSM-IV autism and pervasive developmental disorders section. He has authored several hundred scientific papers and has co-edited numerous books, including Asperger Syndrome, Healthcare for Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide to Medical, Nutritional, and Behavioral Issues and the recently released third edition of The Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Dr. Volkmar serves as associate editor of the Journal of Autism, The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and the American Journal of Psychiatry and as co-chairperson of the autism/MR committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
- Describe how the the developmental trajectory of a child with autism differs from that of a neurotypical child in respect to gender formation
- Describe the application of a psychoanalytic approach to understanding and treating gender differences in a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of [2] AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. *Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
Venue: ZOOM Virtual Meeting