Reasearch on the Brain Functions of Autistic Children

1) explain why it is important to recognise that each individual on the autistic spectrum has their own individual abilities, needs, strengths, preferences and interests

complex in its entirety. During development, the most critical period is within the first 6 years of life; at the age of 7, our brain is nearly developed to the average adult size. During this time, myelination, synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning are occurring and contribute significantly to the development of the brain. If disruption occurs in brain development, it is possible that autism could be the ending result. Autism normally appears in the first 3 years of life. Although, it is still unknown as to what exactly causes these abnormalities. In Kathleen M. Galottis book, Cogitive Psychology: In and Out of the Laboratory, 2014. She asks how we come to obtain cognitive capacities, skills and strategies (Galotti, 2014, p. 321). Galotti focuses on 2 major theoretical approaches to cognitive development. The Stage and Nonstage theories are developmental theories that organize ways of explaining phenomena, including assumptions and predictions that are testable hypothesis (Galotti, 2014, p. 321). The Stage Theory that Galloti focuses on is Piagets Theory of Development, also known as the Piagetian Theory.

In the article, “The Mind’s Mirror” written by Winerman, in accordance with the American Psychological Association, it explains how mirror neurons are essential for human survival amongst each other. Mirror neurons allow for people to pick up on social cues and allow for empathy to prevail. (Winerman, 2005)

Neurons' firing while observing an action can be helpful in planning one's actions, as the consequences of those actions can also be observed.

In this paper, I will be discussing the disorder of Autism, a sever disorder that affects the function of the brain. It causes problems in such areas as social contact, intelligence, language and speech impediments, along with ritualistic or compulsive behaviors, as well as different responses to the environment that an autistic individual may have different than individuals not having autism would exhibit. I will be discussing generally about the history and description of autism. Also I will be discussing the charactistics that mark an autistic individual, the actual treatment that an autistic person may receive, risk factors that an autistic person may encounter, and interventions/treatments activities that an individual who has autism may take part in. I feel that by doing all of this that I will gain a greater sense of understanding for individuals with autism. I will be giving this information to you by going through each topic that I have outlined in the introduction and explaining what each means and how they affect an individual with autism.

Outline the condition of autism according to the triad of impairments and sensory issues, and briefly

The researchers concluded that this indicated mirror neurons coded not just for action, but the goals of action. Kohler and colleagues (2007) expanded on this idea, showing that some neurons were activated with the mere sound of the result of an intended action (i.e. cracking a peanut). The authors asserted that this indicated that mirror neurons were so tuned to goals that the sound of an action reaching its goal was enough for the macaque to understand the entire action that would have been involved. The results of both studies were said to apply neatly to humans as well. That is, if action understanding is supported by the mirror neuron system of macaques, it is most likely supported by the human mirror neuron system (hMNS). There are two major problems with this view. First, it has been shown that human mirror neurons are much more broadly tuned than monkeys. There is not enough evidence to generalize macaque studies to humans in this way (Hickok 2008). Second, both of these studies fail to acknowledge that the activation of mirror neurons may have been the result, or a byproduct, of understanding rather than the cause. Their activity, then, may only have reflected understanding earlier in processing.

This neuron is probably tied to learning or recognizing in others similar activities they perform. Following, this experiment the simulation explained “mirror neurons,” which seems to be very similar to what Rizzo’s excited neuron was showcasing. These “mirror neurons” appear to be very important in learning and interpreting the world around us, they allow us to “mind- read” and develop empathy, however while reading the information in the simulation I remembered reading an article about research that suggested children may be experiencing a lack in the development of empathy and other areas of emotional development due to the large, and rapidly rising amount of time they spend in front of a tablet, phone screen, etc. rather than having social interactions, which made me wonder if and how their mirror neurons are being affected. Evidently, extensive research on mirror neurons is underway which raises the probability one day we will come to understand neurons and their

Mirror neurons are important because it can allow a child to develop a symbiotic relationship with their caregiver and it teaches them social interactions with other humans. People learn through seeing and practicing what they seen another person do. The child learns social cues and interactions from their caregiver and a bond is formed between them. From the infant stage, a child often mimics the expressions of certain moods such as smiling if they see their mother smiling. However, if a child does not engage in this imitation or develop that relationship with their caregiver, it will be more difficult for it to develop in the future. In some cases, it is possible that it may never develop. This means that the person will have a difficult time forming emotional attachments to other people, especially their caregiver. When developing a treatment plan for Robert, Dr. Perry had recommended medication, but Mama P refused to “drug up” her baby. Mama P insisted that Robert needed “people to be loving and kind to him.” Mama P held and rocked Robert whenever he had an emotional episode and it soothed him. Originally, Dr. Perry thought that this type of care infantilized him, but it was the type of care that Robert never received before. Robert never received loving or comforting when he was stressed, so the actual physical act of nurturing was able to calm him. It was apparent to Dr. Perry that this type of care was effective to abused or neglected children when Mama P treated

I wanted to research the differences between typical brains and people with autism spectrum disorder brains. I wanted to research this topic because I learned a lot of symptoms of autism but I was clueless about what it was doing to the brain. This topic relates to both books, The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin, and The Teenage Brain by Frances Jensen. My topic related to these topics because in Temple Grandin's book it talked about the strengths and weaknesses of people with autism and how to counteract those weaknesses and make them into strengths. In Frances Jensen´s book, it talked about how the brain worked, how information was sent between synapses from different parts of the brain to communicate what was happening. Although autism

Life as a human is full of mystery and discovery. Throughout history, people have set out to learn more about the world and the people inhabiting it. In the process, they gained knowledge about a disorder that is now referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), or simply Autism. ASD is a developmental disorder that results in difficulty in social interactions, communication, and repetitive behaviors. Researchers have come a long way in gathering knowledge about the complex disorder since it was first discovered. Many of its aspects have been discovered and redefined to shape the disorder that is diagnosed and studied today. However, much like many other well-known psychological disorders, autism has yet to be fully understood; instead,

There is a wide variety of symptoms that have been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, the name adopted in 2013) including, repetitive movements, emotional difficulties, sensory problems, etc. The exact cause of these symptoms is a widely debated topic. In this paper, I will discuss the overall prevalent causes for Autism as well as the different variations and subgroups. People are familiar with other disorders such as Down syndrome or Trisomy 21. These types of disorders are discusses frequently because of the knowledge and commonality of them. However, not everybody is familiar with a disorder such as Autism. This is due to the uncertainty of the cause for Autism. The overall concept of Autism is simple, but the causes are widely disputed.

in the reported incidence of autism (larger than can be attributed to increased recognition and reporting) also supports the idea that there is a

In today’s society, many new discoveries having to do with the human brain and body are found every day. Autism and Asperger’s syndrome is just two examples of them. Not many people know what or if they have this disorder until it is properly diagnosed, each and every year. The real cause of autism is yet to be known, but better understanding the disorder might help. Someone who may not know much about what they are, could read and find out more about it. The goals of this paper is to help someone better understand the meaning of the disorders.

For a number of years empathy was difficult to measure, as there was limited basis of empirical data. This changed with the progression of technology, as the biological approach could then using brain imaging techniques to visually represent the activity going on in the brain and biological psychologists could then research links between the activity and behavioural traits like empathy. One way in which biological psychology has helped us understand empathy as a complex trait is through exploration of mirror neurons.