Summary: The Autistic Brain

In Chapter four it talks about how people that have autism are concrete thinkers. Before reading this chapter I was unaware of much of our social language is figurative. This is something that a child with autism would struggle with. The author makes a good point when saying “you wouldn’t dream of issuing instructions to you child in a foreign language but English can seem that way” ( Notbohm 66). This put it in to words how hard it can be for a child with autism to grasp the language people use. The author identifies four things that people need to watch out for when speaking with a child with autism. The first thing was to avoid idioms and cliches, so this means instead of saying “something smells fishy” try saying “this does seem right to me”. It gives a better and clearer

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

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be a disorder in the brain, caused by genetic, environmental or neural levels. Autism effects data processing in the brain by alerting how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs not understand. (Johnson.2004)

According to Kids Health (2014), “children with Autism have difference in the way their brains develop and process information”. For example, “language delay, trouble communicating with their brains, perform certain unusual or repetitive behaviors, or have difficulties learning in school” (p. 1).

Autism is characterized as a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social interactions, nonverbal and verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. On a global scale, autism was estimated to affect 21.7 million people in 2013, and the number continues to rise as time persists. Children are often diagnosed while they are infants, usually in the first two years of life, when parents notice odd behaviors such as assembling toys or stacking of objects. It is not yet well understood how autism occurs, but we do know that autism affects information processing in the brain by changing the way nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize. Autism is one of the three disorders that make up the Autism Spectrum, the second is

“A wealth of new brain research is lifting the veil” on Autism and revealing its effects on a child`s mind (Cray and Wallis 43). Neuroscientist Eric Courchesne at Children`s Hospital of San Diego revealed that “while children with autism are born with ordinary-size brains, they experience a rapid expansion by age two” (Cray and Wallis 45). Much of this growth is due to the excessive amount of white matter, the nerve fibers that link different areas of the brain. The abundance of white matter has led doctors to believe Autism to be a problem with the way the brain is wired. Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon`s Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wrote that “there is a lack of synchronization” between the different areas of the brain (Cray and Wallis 46). Local areas of the brain, such as the frontal lobes and the amygdala, are over-connected while links between more distant regions, such as the right and left hemispheres, are poorly connected. One area of the Autistic brain that is enlarged is the amygdala. The amygdala`s job is to assess threats in the environment or in emotional and social behavior. It could be enlarged due to the fact that autistic children maintain a high level of anxiety when having to relate to other people. Another enlarged area of the autistic brain is the hippocampus, an area vital to memory. Doctors believe the hippocampus is enlarged because an autistic child relies on memory to process and interpret situations that most people interpret in a different area of the brain. Researchers have also discovered that autistic brains have chronic inflammation. Amidst these issues Autistic people have learned to adapt and use their brains in unusual ways. For example, they memorize the alphabet in

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior. There is more classification of Autism that is based on the severity of symptom. Childhood disintegrative disorder, also known as Heller 's syndrome is a rare condition characterized by a late onset of developmental delays in language, social function, and motor skills. Asperger Syndrome is a developmental disorder related to autism and characterized by higher than average intellectual ability coupled with impaired social skills and restrictive, repetitive patterns of interest and activities. Atypical Autism is the term used when the person has symptoms but don’t have all the symptoms to diagnose Autism. Atypical autism usually differs from autism in terms either of age of onset or of failure to fulfill all three sets of autism diagnostic criteria.

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.

“A wealth of new brain research is lifting the veil” on Autism and revealing its effects on a child`s mind (Cray and Wallis 43). Neuroscientist Eric Courchesne at Children`s Hospital of San Diego revealed that “while children with autism are born with ordinary-size brains, they experience a rapid expansion by age two” (Cray and Wallis 45). Much of this growth is due to the excessive amount of white matter, the nerve fibers that link various areas of the brain. The abundance of white matter has doctors convinced that Autism is a problem with the way the brain is wired. Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon`s Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wrote that “there is a lack of synchronization” between the different areas of the brain (Cray and Wallis 46). Local areas of the brain, such as the frontal lobes and the amygdala, are over-connected while links between more distant regions, such as the right and left hemispheres, are poorly connected. One area of the

Symptoms typically are apparent before children turn 3 years old. (7). When individuals are born as an identical twin or have first degree relatives who have autism, they are automatically at a higher risk for developing it themselves. Other risk factors include immune dysregulation, altered short chain fatty acids, genetic mutations involving the metabolism of vitamin D, infections, teratogens, or antibodies maternally. For every 68 boys who are born, 1 will likely have autism, as boys are about five times more likely to present with autism than girls are. (3). When the brains of patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder are studied and compared with those who do not have the disorder, there are obvious differences. In the Autism Spectrum Disorder brain, there are alterations to the striatal circuits, a dysfunction in canonical neural circuits, and an abnormal basal ganglion connectivity. These striatal dysfunctions of the brain are evidence as to why abnormal behaviors occur in autistic patients (repetitive grooming, stereotypic motor routines, and deficits in social interaction and decision-making). There may even be evidence that links genetics to these specific neural circuits. (8). When MRI’s are taken on young autistic patients, the hyperplasia of their cerebral cortex can often be seen. Because the frontal and temporal lobes are important for social functioning and language development, these anatomical anomalies are likely to underlie the pathophysiology of autism.

In the article, “Autism and ADHD: Overlapping and discriminating symptoms” (2012), it speaks about how the symptoms in the children, who have ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, are very similar. Therefore, it makes it very difficult when diagnosing one or the other. Because of this, the children being diagnosed could, and sometimes are misdiagnosed. Therefore, a study is done to determine what symptoms overlap when assessing a child and at what degree they overlap.

Despite taking an introductory psychology class, we never discussed autism. I did not know that an individual with autism usually has a brain that appears to be a normal brain, the function is just different. It actually makes sense, especially when other disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy also do not affect the physical appearance of the brain. Like autism, these disorders can usually only be diagnosed by observation. As someone with chronic depression, there was no empirical test to confirm that. Depression and other similar disorders also have a spectrum like autism, so sometimes

According to the National Institutes of Health, they define autism spectrum disorder as a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Scientists have discovered that a person with autism has false connections with the brain, and this causes miscommunication between brain cells. False connections between brain cells will lead to improper behavior, and even to improper body movements.

Barbeau, Soulières, Dawson, Zeffiro and Mottron (2012) conducted an experiment to examine the correlation of autistic individuals’ intelligence between their intelligence level and their intelligence examination time. The goal of the experiment was to compare inspection time (IT) between people on the autistic spectrum and some control typical groups, and to determine whether or not early speech development is related to these statistics (Barbeau, et al., 2012). The results were expected to be that the autistic group would outperform the typical group in a Wechsler IQ test regarding their IT and would be very similar to the performance of the typical group on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM, a test of reasoning ability that doesn’t need

In a study, published from the Journal of the American Medical Association, scientists found an overgrowth in the development of brain cells in autistic brains. During the brain development, 250000 neurons are added every minute, which shows that a child in the age of two years, the brain is about 80% the size of an adult brain. In an autistic brain, the development of an autistic brain reaches an overgrowth, which means the brain of a two-year-old child suffering from autism has already 67% more neurons than a child with a normal brain. This all happens in the prefrontal cortex which is linked to the social, emotional and communication area. In addition, autistic brains weight also