the boy whose brain could unlock autism

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../   "The Intense World syndrome - an alternative hypothesis for autism" published on-line only in 2007 in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

This paper by Henry and Kamila Markham and Tania Renaldi (at his Brain Mind Institute in Lausanne Switzerland) doesn't make for easy reading, but if you skip to the conclusion you will find the following illuminating statement:

"This perspective of hyper-functionality offers new hope for pharmacological as well as behavioural treatments. For example, while most of the commonly prescribed medication try to increase neuronal and cognitive functioning, we conclude that the autistc brain needs to be calmed down, learning needs to be slowed, and cognitive functions need to be diminished in order to re-instate proper functionality"

In short they propose using sedating drugs to slow down brain activity.

I don't like the sound of that at all. Remember, so far his entire understanding has been based on experiments on rats! At least one has to hope he hasn't been experimenting on his son.

I hope I get this link to the Simons Foundation Autism Research Institute (SFARI) right as it is a long one and I'm having to copy by hand rather than cut-and-paste, but if it doesn't work search Intense World Theory Criticism. It gives you the other side of the story, and some other worrying implications.

www.sfari.org/.../intense-world-theory-raises-intense-worries

One of the things they propose is withdrawing stimulation during infancy - treat kids like Roumanian orphans.

The cricism also points out that they overlook hyposensitivity.

And remember this is a criticism from university academics - not always a good thing - but an important distinction all the same. The Markhams are marketing a cure from their own funded clinic. How often have we seen that?

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../   "The Intense World syndrome - an alternative hypothesis for autism" published on-line only in 2007 in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

This paper by Henry and Kamila Markham and Tania Renaldi (at his Brain Mind Institute in Lausanne Switzerland) doesn't make for easy reading, but if you skip to the conclusion you will find the following illuminating statement:

"This perspective of hyper-functionality offers new hope for pharmacological as well as behavioural treatments. For example, while most of the commonly prescribed medication try to increase neuronal and cognitive functioning, we conclude that the autistc brain needs to be calmed down, learning needs to be slowed, and cognitive functions need to be diminished in order to re-instate proper functionality"

In short they propose using sedating drugs to slow down brain activity.

I don't like the sound of that at all. Remember, so far his entire understanding has been based on experiments on rats! At least one has to hope he hasn't been experimenting on his son.

I hope I get this link to the Simons Foundation Autism Research Institute (SFARI) right as it is a long one and I'm having to copy by hand rather than cut-and-paste, but if it doesn't work search Intense World Theory Criticism. It gives you the other side of the story, and some other worrying implications.

www.sfari.org/.../intense-world-theory-raises-intense-worries

One of the things they propose is withdrawing stimulation during infancy - treat kids like Roumanian orphans.

The cricism also points out that they overlook hyposensitivity.

And remember this is a criticism from university academics - not always a good thing - but an important distinction all the same. The Markhams are marketing a cure from their own funded clinic. How often have we seen that?