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'People with autism have stronger connections between brain cells'

Martian Tom
over 5 years ago

I wasn't certain about posting this, but thought people might be interested - even if just for the Reply to it left at the end.

I dislike the language of 'impairments', and the distinction the author seems to be making between 'mentally healthy' patients and autistic ones.

Be interested in others' thoughts and opinions...

People with autism 'have stronger connections between brain cells, making it harder for them to switch off.'

Parents
  • over 5 years ago

    For anyone who's interested, here's the full text of the original research paper (I noticed immediately that the news article doesn't cite any sources, as they so often don't!)

    From the perspective of my own personal experience, I don't find the overall gist of the finding particularly surprising. I experience plenty of perseveration in my thoughts and habits, and, as far as I'm aware, this is an aspect of autism that's nothing new to clinicians either, and is often mentioned in descriptions of autism.

    The focus on fixing us and "finding better drugs" is, of course, pretty typical and does leave a rather nasty taste in my mouth (though that's no reason that such things shouldn't be posted, of course!).  If the research is found to be significant then it seems to me that it would be far more beneficial to autistic people to ask whether it indicates anything about how best to present information, design environments, and/or structure activities so that they are more effective and less anxiety inducing for us - that is, as strategies for society in general, not just as "treatments".

Reply
  • over 5 years ago

    For anyone who's interested, here's the full text of the original research paper (I noticed immediately that the news article doesn't cite any sources, as they so often don't!)

    From the perspective of my own personal experience, I don't find the overall gist of the finding particularly surprising. I experience plenty of perseveration in my thoughts and habits, and, as far as I'm aware, this is an aspect of autism that's nothing new to clinicians either, and is often mentioned in descriptions of autism.

    The focus on fixing us and "finding better drugs" is, of course, pretty typical and does leave a rather nasty taste in my mouth (though that's no reason that such things shouldn't be posted, of course!).  If the research is found to be significant then it seems to me that it would be far more beneficial to autistic people to ask whether it indicates anything about how best to present information, design environments, and/or structure activities so that they are more effective and less anxiety inducing for us - that is, as strategies for society in general, not just as "treatments".

Children