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New research on autism

Wordsmith

Some Interesting research just published by folk at De Montfort University. They compared brains scans of autistic people with non-autistic people and the results suggest that ‘autistic brains may use alternative neural strategies that we’ve only just begun to understand. . . . Autism has traditionally been seen by science as a deficit compared to non-autistic individuals. Our findings suggest it's not necessarily a deficit at all. Instead, they point toward a different form of brain organisation, one that may reflect diverse ways of thinking, rather than dysfunction.’ (DMU News)

Their paper has been published in brain sciences: ‘Wired Differently? Brain Temporal Complexity and Intelligence in Autism Spectrum Disorder’.

Parents
  • Wordsmith said:
    Autism has traditionally been seen by science as a deficit compared to non-autistic individuals. Our findings suggest it's not necessarily a deficit at all.

    An interesting take on it.

    I don't think autism itself is a deficit, it is the impact of its traits that causes a deficit for some of us in the world we live in.

    A lot of it is related to sensory inputs - bright lights, loud noises, textures, temperatures etc can all cause sensory overloads leading to anxiety, burnout and/or meltdowns.

    Our challenges in learning social skills (even as adults) result in social exclusion, abuse and alienation in many cases. So many autists report they just can't learn the social skills that it implies a deficit in this area.

    We can have strengths though, but these seem hard to realise and appear to be patchy in their application (special interest focus, pattern recognition etc).

    We seem a long way from being able to realistically view autism as simply being different - the differences come at a significant cost to us and rise to the level of a disability for most.

Reply
  • Wordsmith said:
    Autism has traditionally been seen by science as a deficit compared to non-autistic individuals. Our findings suggest it's not necessarily a deficit at all.

    An interesting take on it.

    I don't think autism itself is a deficit, it is the impact of its traits that causes a deficit for some of us in the world we live in.

    A lot of it is related to sensory inputs - bright lights, loud noises, textures, temperatures etc can all cause sensory overloads leading to anxiety, burnout and/or meltdowns.

    Our challenges in learning social skills (even as adults) result in social exclusion, abuse and alienation in many cases. So many autists report they just can't learn the social skills that it implies a deficit in this area.

    We can have strengths though, but these seem hard to realise and appear to be patchy in their application (special interest focus, pattern recognition etc).

    We seem a long way from being able to realistically view autism as simply being different - the differences come at a significant cost to us and rise to the level of a disability for most.

Children
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