Broca's anyone?

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SuperTrouper, thank you for bringing this up.

I did a Google search for Broca's area and Autism, and I found an interesting study performed last year (2010) about how the Pars Opercularis is smaller in people with HFA/AS.

Study abstract is here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20801427

From personal experience, although I am considered "very high functioning", I still have trouble forming coherent sentences on the spot. The only way I can express myself in person effectively without getting lost for words, is speaking bluntly and in short sentences as I have a reduced ability to talk in a smooth "emotionally appealing", indirect manner by NT standards. I can express myself much better in writing as I have extra time to form coherent sentences. I have a lot of time editing my writing as I often don't seem to get the sentences fluently the first time, unless it's blunt, short statements and questions.

Given that the Pars Opercularis is part of Broca's Area, perhaps the smaller grey matter volume of this component would be responsible for making speech/verbal communication harder for those on the Autism Spectrum, so those with poor-verbal abilities do so because their brains are unable to organize their thoughts into coherent phrases, with severity progressively decreasing as the Pars Opercularis becomes larger.

You said you were banging your head on the sides, so perhaps that may have damaged your Pars Opercularis to an extent, and reduced its function???! !!

I'd be very looking forward to you having an MRI scan.

Very interesting indeed. I'm not thrilled about having to get an MRI, if I do have to. I'm just hoping they'll write me a prescription for speech therapy so I can work on getting my words back...

GET THE MRI SCAN! It can display the view of your brain in greater detail!

MRI scans are very expensive, so of course it is optional to you, but if you were on Medicaid (in America) and could get it for free or a heavily discounted price, then go for it!! ! The MRI is VERY NOISY when it's operating, so you'll need earplugs to cut down the sound. People who are claustrophobic might use Valium (diazepam) or some other benzodiazepine to reduce their anxiety, although this will mess around with fMRI results I imagine.

There's also fMRI (functional MRI) which is when you're in the MRI machine, and they make you answer questions and do little puzzles while you're lying in there, so the machine can find out which parts of your brain are being activated when you're thinking. I believe this was how they found out that in people with ADHD, they had reduced prefrontal cortex activity. for certain tasks

Last edited by Amajanshi on 20 May 2011, 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

SuperTrouper, if you write something down, are you able to read it out loud off the paper?

No, I can't, if my words are gone. But I can sing sometimes and I can echo a word or two.

I went to a young adult social group tonight, and it went... okay... until my staff said, "well she USED to talk all the time!" So then, the group leader lady came over to me and said, "You know, your voice is a gift that you give to other people. It's not very nice if you can speak to us but won't." AAAAAAnd we're not going back there.

I did talk for about an hour tonight (though not fluently exactly) but the words are back to how they were- gone.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Maybe you should show your staff this thread to help them understand that you're not just refusing to talk. Maybe they won't say things like that if they understand.