1. Create a concrete plan you share with you child and set expectations before going on the vacation – If we know exactly what’s going on and can see a schedule beforehand it feels much less overwhelming to tackle new places and new experiences.

2. Make sure you’re staying in a place with enough space – when I was a kid, if we stayed in a place with plenty of space, my parents had no issues. For example, every year my parents would take us to Pawleys Island, SC. Generally that trip was fine because my parents rented a big enough house and I had my own space, which is something a lot of us on the spectrum need. One year, we moved to a much nicer but much smaller house. I had to share a bedroom with my brother and the house was very compact so we felt packed in and I had a lot of difficulties. Even though the house was nicer, renting the bigger, albeit more shabby, beach house was much better for our family.

3. Plan your vacation during the destination’s off-season and go to a place that’s less crowded in general  Autistic people can get overwhelmed in large crowds or places that have a lot of people. And when you go to tourist destinations, that can be even more overwhelming if it’s during a busy season.

4. Plan a lot of physical activities  Things that involve bike riding, walking, swimming, or even outdoor activities like the zoo, are good for helping to get rid of that excess nervous energy that can build up .

5. Doing more shorter vacations like day or weekend trips can be easier than going on a single longer vacation If a week long vacation is too much, try doing a few 3, 2 or 1 day trips. If your child hates the trip, you can leave without worrying about the fact that you paid for a whole week.

6. Since activities can be overwhelming, limit them in time and scope and plan them so that they work for your child - 

As an example, for a trip to a museum, create a plan of things to see and do and share it with your child before going in. Whatever you do, don’t just walk around looking at things. People, especially kids, on the spectrum don’t like uncertainty.

Also, call ahead and ask what the least busy time is – sometimes google has a graph that shows how many people are at a specific attraction for each hour of the day.

Also, plan mini tours that involve activities related to what you’re doing (like a scavenger hunt). Often times, places like a museum will offer guides for children.  Don’t be pedantic, the experience of new places and experiences should be enough. You don’t need to teach them everything about everything you see and don’t try too hard to make sure they’re learning. Children will remember activities related to what they saw, not  what was written on a plaque you made them read.  Be more hands off and your child’s curiosity will do the rest.

Plan an escape if it’s a new overwhelming experience. One time we went to a haunted house. My sister who is also on the spectrum was insistent upon going in so my mom talked with the people running it and they came up with an egress plan for her to go to a guide to take her out if she got overwhelmed and needed to leave.

7. Always have a plan of where your next meal is coming from – either bring your food or plan to eat at a specific place you research that is fun and not overwhelming from a sensory perspective

Plan rest times – While it can seem like it’d be better to make use of all the time you have and do as much as possible, if you do less things and have built-in breaks, the things you do will be much more rewarding and memorable. You don’t need to see the whole city or even the whole museum. A lot of parents

8. Be aware of your child’s needs and prioritize those over your own- If your kid likes rocket ships, go to the air and space museum. Even if you think you’d enjoy an art gallery more, you won’t if your kid is having a melt down the whole time. You can still go to the art gallery if you make it fun, but sometimes the path of least resistance is best.

9 Prepare staff in advance - Tell them you have a kid on the spectrum and explain that a meltdown is possible. That way, if a meltdown does happen they will be more patient and accommodating and you won’t get as many people judging you.

10. If you have multiple kids on the spectrum, consider one parent taking them each separately on different vacations based on their needs and interests. Or if you’re doing activities on the same trip, maybe split off so each child can do something that will work for them.

The post Planning a family vacation with Autism – 10 tips for success appeared first on Wrong Planet.

My criticisms of Atypical’s freshman season were certainly no secret, as I shared my feelings both publicly in various news outlets and privately with Robia Rashid, the show’s creator.  At the time, I mentioned that a lot of issues could be fixed, but my biggest problem with season one was the lack of autistic involvement.  To remedy this problem, I suggested that, at the very least, an autistic consultant needed to be hired for season two.  Fortunately my suggestion was taken to heart, and with the addition of autistic consultant David Finch many of the show’s major problems have been addressed.  From the moment I began watching season two, I felt freed from the brackish misrepresentations that distracted me in viewing the first season and I was consequently able to enjoy the show. I even laughed out loud during a few of its funniest moments.

I am very surprised that the show improved as much as it did and while I intend this review of season two to be very positive, I think I will need to go through some of the problems I had with season one in order to fully convey how big of a leap forward the creators took in the show’s sophomore year.

Alex Plank with cast members Keir Gilchrist & Michelle Farrah Huang

Another incident in the first season that I felt was not positive was the depiction of Sam breaking into his therapist’s house to leave her a box of chocolates. In season two, Sam continues talking with his therapist, who surprisingly takes his calls despite his behavior in season one.  I think that she seems accepting of this communication out of guilt over the way she handled things in the first season.

In general, Sam’s relationships in season two are much more realistic and, more importantly, are extremely positive from a standpoint of portraying autism in an accurate and constructive manner. For instance, instead of furthering the myth that those on the spectrum cannot have a romantic relationship, season two goes a step further and features multiple women vying for Sam’s affection. If anything, Sam treats these women with more respect and maturity than they show towards him which is one very enlightening commentary on how being autistic can actually make one more compassionate, not less. 

Season two further explores the one thing I liked most about Atypical in season one, its portrayal of family dynamics. I believe that the viewers who loved season one focused on that part of the show and either forgave the autistic representation issues or did not notice them. I think that’s why a lot of parents were excited about the show while autistic people, even those with a roseate view of the series, could readily point out specific issues that they felt should be fixed in the second season. 

I appreciate that season one resonated with many families who watched and were ecstatic to finally see a family like theirs being represented on television. Thankfully, season two improves even more on that front, as the way that Sam interacts with other characters indicates a positive shift towards his being treated more as a real person and less as simply a diagnosis.   Moreover, the way he is talked about is also more positive. 

Alex with actor Brigette Lundy-Paine (Casey)

Many reviews of Atypical have focused on the plot lines centered on autism. To me, these elements of the show seem like PSAs, and while I appreciate that Robia and her writers felt the need to include these important topics in an effort to teach the audience about things we face in the autism community,  I think the scenes that are designed to deliver exposition information about autism actually end telling us the least about autism. For instance, while I appreciate the intentions behind bringing up the issues of police being untrained when it comes to dealing with autistic people, that storyline seemed a bit forced. In contrast, I felt much more was conveyed about autism with much more depth in the storyline of Casey’s birthday involving a tradition of rituals that Sam adheres to as his way of expressing his love for her. This year, Casey brushes Sam off and expresses frustration due to a belief that Sam is obsessing over these birthday rituals from a place of selfishness when she clearly is trying to deal with other issues. However, the resolution of this conflict, and Casey’s realization regarding Sam’s true intentions, stands out as the most beautiful moment of season two. 

Alex with Atypical Creator Robia Rashid

In conclusion, the second season of Atypical far exceeded my expectations, and, if it continues going in such a positive direction, by the third season I think it could more than make up for the problematic representations from season one. Robia’s receptiveness to suggestions makes me excited to see how she further includes autistics in season three. 

In that vein I’ll end this piece with my biggest suggestions for season three. First, I think an openly autistic writer should be added to the writer’s room. David Finch, the show’s consultant, who I believe was instrumental in fomenting the major improvements of this season and penned a hilarious  New York Times best-selling memoir, would be a perfect candidate.  I personally served as a consultant on FX’s The Bridge, so I know how difficult a job it is to ensure that autism is fairly and accurately represented while concurrently serving the overall story and tone of a show. David did a remarkable job and I think those on the spectrum who’ve been critical of season two fail to acknowledge how difficult a job it was to improve the representation of a character who had already been developed for an entire season. Atypical accomplishes this with a character arc that fixed the issues gradually while not changing him drastically enough to betray the underlying character viewers had come to expect. 

Finally, I want to see even more autistic characters in season three and I want to see another autistic character with a bigger role. Autism is often thought of only in reference to kids or teens. If Atypical wrote in an adult autistic character, perhaps one Sam could see as a role model, I think that would be a powerful addition to a show that I’m actually really starting to dig. And if you’re looking for an autistic actor to play him, contact my agent. I think I have some availability.

The post Atypical’s 2nd Season is a Step Forward in Autism Representation appeared first on Wrong Planet.

“That’s really incredible,” said a well-meaning educator who had called in April about our Autism Advantage program, which runs six-week training cohorts for autistic individuals around specific talent sets. “I’m searching for a program which can teach autistic people acceptable behavior for the workplace. Yours is like that, correct?”

We now love conversations like these. They give us an opportunity to explain what we’ve helped dozens of leading companies understand. Our Autism Advantage program doesn’t make autistic people ‘acceptable’. We bring out and strengthen their talents to improve their careers.

Our programs provide training and structure to help individuals understand and accept who they are as autistic people, identify and master their skills long overlooked by others, and employ those skills in order to find career success. We provide understanding of neurotypical behavior in order for autistic individuals to better navigate integrated workplaces, coach companies in building neurodiverse workplaces, match autistic candidates with employment opportunities, and provide coaching and assistance once hired.

We do this because we’re located in Silicon Valley and realized that many autistic talents are well-suited for hard-to-fill technology roles. We started our training from this point and our current series focuses on autistic individuals with data analytical skills (if you are interested in these programs, we encourage you to sign-up). However, it would be ridiculous to think that autistic talent is limited to tech. That’s why we don’t just place candidates within tech roles and why we’re structuring future training opportunities around additional talent sets. Our six-week training acts as a deep dive into developing the talents of autistic individuals from the autistic frame. We go over many things, but at the core of our trainings are four key components we’ve realized are applicable to anyone looking for work.

1. Self Awareness. When autistic people hear the term “self awareness” it’s often in being reprimanded for not mirroring neurotypical behavior. In Autism Advantage, we emphasize the actual meaning of the term: understanding who you are and how you operate in this world. Some of our program participants are deeply ashamed of their autistic traits at the beginning of each of our trainings. We help them see that autistic traits can used to their advantage. If the X-men has taught us anything, it is that unique traits are needed and necessary. Accepting and understanding who you are as an autistic person allows you to find ways to leverage your autistic traits as an advantage throughout your career.

2.Master Your Skills. Cal Newport is a computer scientist who does deep thinking on workplace success. In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You he examines the repeating patterns of success found in individuals from blues musician Jordan Tice to Apple founder Steve Jobs. Newport discovered that the most successful people are the ones who take an existing skill set and practice it over-and-over again to mastery. What inspired Newport to first research this pattern was seeing an interview with comedian Steve Martin on the Charlie Rose show where he discussed giving advice to aspiring comedians:

Nobody ever takes note of [my advice], because it’s not the answer they wanted to hear. What they want to hear is “Here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script,”. . . but I always say, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

It wasn’t an exceptional talent that distinguished Steve Martin from his peers. Like other new comics, he was good but not great. While other new comics focused half of their attention on finding better and better gigs, Martin tried a different approach. He focused all of his attention on practicing his own skills over and over again. He worked clubs whose audiences would boo him but would also laugh three weeks later when he finally got the joke he had tried before just right. In mastering his skills, Martin began to distinguish himself. It was in learning how to be obsessively good at what he did that found Steve Martin success.

There is a dwindling number of educators who deride “narrow autistic interests” as a bad thing, an antithetical attitude to Newport and Martin’s advice to apply rigid structure and obsessive focus on a subject in order to master it (“If I stay with it,” said Martin in the same interview discussing the advice he gave himself when he decided to learn how to play the banjo “then one day I will have been playing it for 40 years and anyone who sticks with something for 40 years will be pretty good at it.”). If the key to skill success among neurotypicals is adopting autistic traits, then we should encourage those traits in autistic individuals themselves.

Whether it be city bus schedules or complex data systems, autistic people build expertise on the subjects they love by rigorously acquiring knowledge. If you are on the spectrum, you’ve most likely done this by becoming proficient at a key group of skills that you may not have even realized that you were practicing over-and-over again to perfection – skills like research, observation, analysis, evaluation, and communication. Think about the things you love, then think about the skills you used to build your knowledge of them. These are all skills you can apply to other aspects of your life, including work. Neurotypicals spend millions of dollars each year on books and seminars to get them to this place. Recognize your skills, lean into them, and practice them over-and-over again.

3. Market Your Skills. No one likes a shameless self-promoter, but almost all hiring managers love when someone can demonstrate how their skills can fit their company’s needs. That’s a big thing we work on in Autism Advantage. Here is what Daniel, one of our recent graduates shared with us after we placed him in a position with professional services firm EY.

What the Autism Advantage program gave us was a space to relax and dig deeper into our personal strengths. I discovered that I’m actually a great presenter and I’m good at public speaking. Understanding that means that I now know how to personally pitch myself.

When Daniel started our program, he hadn’t yet discovered that he had those skills. By graduation, he was able to confidently talk about them with others. You most likely have a different skill set than Daniel. As you discover yours and practice your skills to mastery, they will become much easier to talk about. Many autistic people have difficulty talking about themselves, but discussing your skills and how they apply to others is one way to accommodate our strengths.  The interview process if filled with people who love to talk about how great they are. There’s no need to copy that. Talking about how your skills can provide solutions to the job you seek will be valued by the the person hiring for the position.  Once hired, offering your skills as solutions to your managers and teammates will help you advance throughout your career.

4. Network. There’s a misconception that autistic people aren’t good at networking. Most of the internet would collapse if that were true. People just network differently. Neurotypical people tend to highly engage interpersonal networking while autistic people often more easily navigate networking online. Our team has also noticed that many autistic people tend to be great (and better than neurotypical peers) at interpersonal networking if allowed to use it to exchange information on subjects they love. Academia and the arts are filled with autistic people skilled in networking this way. Networking is absolutely essential to your career. The more connections that an individual makes through networks, the more opportunities for success there will be. However, that doesn’t mean that everyone needs to network the same way.

We heavily emphasize networking in Autism Advantage, but we do so from an autistic frame. We recently took our program participants to a strategy session at the San Francisco offices of LinkedInto discuss networking from the autistic point of view. Connecting with others is key to career success. Think through how you best network and then use those channels as you look for work. Let people know you are looking for employment and what your skills are. Other people know of opportunities and connections that you don’t. Everyone networks differently. Figure out how you best network and use those networks to increase opportunities throughout your career.

At the end of each of our Autism Advantage training programs, we increase the opportunities for our attendees by connecting them with leading companies who need their individual skills. We help companies realize why they need autistic talent and how building support for neurodiversity within the office is not only good for the individual employee but for the entire team. On the candidate side, our trainings dive into many things, but these four concepts our participants deeply examine will also prove key concepts to you: develop your self awareness, master your skills, market your skills, and then network. We don’t make autistic talent ‘acceptable’. We help autistic individuals strengthen their talents to improve their careers. The world needs autistic talent. Focus on developing each of these things and you’ll be able to confidently show everyone why.

——-

By Jack Hogan and John Marble, Autism Advantage

Jack Hogan is a technology expert and co-founder of Autism Advantage, a program which trains autistic talent and matches them with leading companies. John Marble is the program’s senior advisor and is a former presidential appointee in the administration of President Barack Obama. He is autistic.

Autism Advantage operates in partnership with Expandability, a non-profit initially established in Silicon Valley to aid disabled programmers. Autism Advantage was developed out of Expandability’s highly successful Autism at Work program it first pioneered with software company SAP. Those interested in the program can sign-up here. Additionally, Autism Advantage continuously seeks input from autistic individuals as they build programs and welcomes the input of suggestions and new ideas.

This is a sponsored article. 

The post Before You Look for Work Here Are Four Things You Should Absolutely Know appeared first on Wrong Planet.

We discuss the inspirational parts of their book as well as the troubling periods of autism history and the shocking discoveries they made about Hans Asperger. We also talk about LSD experiments involving autistics.  Their book is extensive and covers the politics and history of autism in over 500 pages. It even includes a chapter about me, your favorite autism webmaster and tv personality, Alex Plank.

Additionally, they cover the first person diagnosed with autism, Donald Triplett, in great detail.
This book is incredibly fascinating to read and I highly recommend that you buy a copy if you haven’t read it already.

Donvan and Zucker are currently enjoying touring the country to promote their book and educate individuals about their discoveries. I recently had the good fortune to run into them at the ASA conference in New Orleans where they delivered a keynote together.

The post In a Different Key – Interview with John Donvan and Caren Zucker appeared first on Wrong Planet.

You may wonder, as I did, why scientists need actual brain tissue. Shouldn’t tools such as fMRIs and EEGs be sufficient for most research? The answer to this question is no; Scientists are unable to study the full structure of a brain without having the actual physical brain tissue. Also, the only way to see how gene expression occurs in different parts of the brain is to study the brain tissue itself.

These samples can help scientists understand the genetic functioning of brain cells, epigenetics, gene expression, and changes specific to neurons. The scientists also hope to gain a greater understanding of how our unique brain structures relate to the special skills we possess as autistics.

Now, while donating your brain to science may seem like a bizarre thing to do, it’s actually becoming common place for people with unique brains. For instance, more and more professional athletes have been pledging to donate their brains over the last few years for concussion research. And I personally believe that those of us on the autism spectrum have much more fascinating brains than the average pro baller.

Now you’re probably wondering what supporting this program entails. It’s actually pretty simple. All you need to do is register on the It Takes Brains Page. You can sign up as an individual with autism or even as a family member! You can also change your mind at any time if you decide that you no longer want your brain involved.

But the best part is you can brag to all your friends that your brain is going to be flash-frozen in Carbonite like Han Solo in Star Wars (Autism Brain Net doesn’t use actual carbonite in this process, unfortunately, but the technology is still super cool and futuristic).

Please follow my lead and make a pledge!

-Alex

The post It Takes Brains! – Autism Brain Net appeared first on Wrong Planet.

By John Elder Robison

Yesterday a new hashtag campaign appeared in my Twitter feed – #MSSNG. It seemed to refer to autism, and a new research project. I had an immediate reaction, based on my interpretation of the letters in the context of the autism discussion – I thought, Missing?  Certainly not.  We may be gifted or we may be disabled but we are certainly here.  And we are complete humans.   I posted that right away, and it launched a flurry of discussion.

I wondered what the campaign was about, so I went looking. It’s an initiative by Autism Speaks to sequence the genomes of 10,000 individuals touched by autism.  In my opinion, that is a worthwhile thing to do.  I’ve written before about the value of genetic research.  But it is far from my #1 priority for the autism community. More on the why of that later.

Their choice of a name turned mssng from an announcement of a science initiative to a public relations debacle.  I think it’s seriously misguided on several fronts.

First – the community side

Autistic people are not missing.  We have always been here, and we always will. Yet I and many other autistics live with the knowledge that we occupy a world where autism is widely perceived as a disease or defect. I can’t speak for other autistics, but I don’t much care to be seen as diseased or defective. Nor do I like being seen as “missing pieces,” which the name mssng implied.

To say that is not to deny the very real ways autism disables us.  Rather, it’s a simple statement of fact.  Autism is a neurological difference, not a sickness.  As such, it’s here for a reason. Who are we, to second-guess that?  Remediate its disability – sure!  Wipe it from the world – that’s crazy talk, and societal suicide!

I’ll bet every autistic kid in America knows how it feels to be told we were missing some of our marbles growing up, and reminding us of that in the context of a research initiative is at best insensitive and at worst seriously offensive.

It’s not a name I’d have chosen.  I don’t know who did choose it but I’d bet they were not autistic.

An organization run by autistic people would not have made this mistake.  An organization run by non-autistics, autism parents, and autism grandparents DID make this mistake. Or perhaps to them, it’s not a mistake.  It’s just “Some autism parents speaking.”  But that is not what their organization’s name implies.

If “Autism truly Speaks” it by definition does so through autistics. That’s the only way it could speak.

“Autism Observed” is what parents and non-autistics do, and the observers get it wrong a troubling percentage of the time, in the opinion of many who live autism in the first person.

Those are very different things, and we should get our terminology right.

Second – the science side. 

The idea of researching autism at its most basic makes sense.  But genetic research is fraught with ethical challenges.  However, that is not its biggest problem here and now

The biggest problem here and now is very simple:  Genetic research is an extremely long-term game. The timeline to start a study like this, make a discovery, translate that to a possible treatment, and then get that treatment tested and FDA approved is 10 years at a minimum, and more likely 20 years.

So this effort won’t help any of the autistic children today.  Benefits may flow from the research one day, but the beneficiaries will be tomorrow’s children. Today’s children will be long grown up, for better of for worse.

What we need right now are therapies to help us be the best we can be, as we actually are.  We need tools to help us overcome physical limitations.  We need solutions for the medical problems that plague many people on the autism spectrum.  Those are things autistic people – child and adult alike – want and need right now.  The range of therapies, tools, treatments, and services needed is long and varied – and largely attainable, given the budget and the focus.

We also want societal change and acceptance.  We want sensory friendly workplaces.  We want jobs shaped to our different abilities.  We want help navigating the education and employment mazes.  We want to be productive members of society.  Those too are things we want and need right now.  They too are attainable given the resolve, budget, and legislation to back it up.

If I were running an autistic-centered autism advocacy organization, I’d be making those things my #1 and #2 priorities.  I wouldn’t be talking genetics until I’d made some really solid progress on my main objectives.  Once I showed the community what I was doing for them today, I’d talk a little about the long term game.

And most of all, I’d be looking around me, at autistic people leading the organization.

I’m a big believer in science, and I absolutely understand that genetics may one day solve the riddle of why some people have spontaneous genetic mutations that lead to severe intellectual disability.  It’s led to some important discoveries and it will surely be key to more. But how many individuals who live with intellectual disability today will be helped by that?  How many autistic job seekers will get a job, thanks to that work?  How many autistic kids who wander dangerously will suddenly become safe?  How many autistics that suffer from anxiety or gastric distress will suddenly relax in comfort? Those are a few of the very real issues autistic people are actually thinking about now, and genetics isn’t one of the answers on tomorrow’s table.

Genetics is important.  But it is not job #1 for this community. Once again, with this effort, we are spending money in the wrong places.  We should not be trying to “solve the autism riddle.”  We should not be “looking for missing pieces of the autism puzzle.”  We should be Helping Autistic People – Right Now.

That is my opinion, and my hope and wish for this holiday season.

Discuss this issue on the forums!

John Elder Robison is an autistic adult and advocate for people with neurological differences.  He’s the author of Look Me in the Eye, Be Different, Raising Cubby, and the forthcoming Switched On. He serves on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee of the US Dept of Health and Human Services and many other autism-related boards. He’s co-founder of the TCS Auto Program (A school for teens with developmental challenges) and he’s the Neurodiversity Scholar in Residence at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.  The opinions expressed here are his own.  There is no warranty expressed or implied.  While reading this essay may give you food for thought, actually printing and eating it may make you sick.

The post What’s MSSNG in #Autism? – By John Elder Robison appeared first on Wrong Planet.

In this 18 minute episode of Autism Talk TV I sit down with Lindsay Oberman at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to talk about TMS, a technology that allows researchers to use magnets to affect the brains of individuals with Autism. First we have an interview with Lindsay and then you can watch me undergoing TMS.

Lindsay discusses the details of TMS and how it relates to Autism. She has been interested in Autism since she was a graduate student and clearly has a passion for finding out how autistic brains differ from neurotypical ones.

Watch Episode 10 of Autism Talk TV
I was surprised that the TMS researchers were able to use a magnet to move my hand and individual fingers. The region they affected on me was the motor cortex which governs movement. The idea that you can use a magnet to make changes to the brain sounds like science fiction, but it isn’t fiction at all.

Lindsay is close to conclusively figuring out exactly how autistic brains differ from neurotypical brains. There is great potential for TMS being used as a diagnostic tool as well as a theraputic tool.

The post Autism Talk TV – Ep. 10 – Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Wrong Planet takes an in-depth look at this fascinating scientific paper published in the journal Neuron.

Read on for the exclusive article!

Most research on the neurobiological mechanisms of autism has been examined in brains of postmortem young adults, roughly 10-20 years after the clinical onset of autism. But as more data are collected and new technologies such as MRIs are developed, a better understanding of how the autistic brain develops can be reached. Because autistic behaviors begin emerging as early as 9 months, this is a critical time period to research autistic neurobiology; yet, there is actually very little postmortem data and no MRI data on autistic brains prior to the age of 2-4 years old. Interestingly, much of the sparse postmortem data for this age range disagrees with anatomical data from older autistic brains.

Many regions of the brain that are thought to be involved with autism appear to be smaller in older autistic brains. Regions such as the hippocampus (involved in spatial learning and memory), amygdala (involved in emotional processing, learning and memory), cerebellum (variety of cognitive and motor functions), and frontal/temporal lobes (social and communicative functioning) all have been reported in various studies as having a decrease in size (and in some cases, these structures are deteriorated) which may correlate with dysfunction in the processes these structures are involved with. Relatively smaller structures are not a universal pattern in autistic brains (only some structures appear to be smaller) possibly because the brain does not develop and mature in a wholly synchronous manner, but rather in a “bottom-up” fashion, beginning with more posterior regions (such as basal ganglion at the brain stem) and then more anterior regions (such as frontal cortex) mature much later. This may explain why some structures that grow and mature much earlier, such as the occipital cortex, have not been reported as being significantly smaller in autistic brains. This kind of differential effect on the development of various brain structures suggests that timing is vital and thus research on autistic development during a more appropriate (earlier) time period is necessary.

As technology advances, more data can be collected on what the autistic brain looks like and how it functions in children. Surprisingly, current research is showing different results in the brains of autistic children compared to data collected in adults. The very same structures that appear smaller in adult autistic brains appear much larger and overgrown in autistic children. These findings support results of larger head circumference in young autistic patients. Head circumference is initially a good indicator of brain size, but during adolescence, cerebral spinal fluid begins to occupy an increasing amount of space in the skull relative to brain size. So, even though brains in autistic children have been found to have a 5-10% larger weight than non-autistic brains, there is only about a 1% difference found in some studies of adult autistic brains. Although the actual brain size of autistic patients seems to even out with non-autistic brains, the mechanisms for early overgrowth of some structures and then their subsequent growth-arrest or degeneration (resulting in relatively smaller structures) in the adult brain, is unknown.

How can research begin to explain the ramifications of this two-phase shift in brain structure development in autistics? Data are hard to collect at such a young age for many reasons. There are not that many post mortem studies on children 2-4 years old and younger, and while MRIs are the most informative and non-invasive method available for research; toddlers are less than cooperative for placing in MRI machines, which require patients to lay still for extended periods. One possibility for this direction of research is exploration of brain functioning during sleep. Current research is finding many higher cognitive pathways still function during sleep and can thus be monitored in peaceful sleeping babies.

Until these kinds of methodical issues are resolved, there can only be speculation as to what causes this initial overgrowth and recline in relative growth of brain structures thought to be involved in autism. One theory suggests that there are too many neurons and or glia, causing connectivity issues in frontal and temporal lobe regions (where overgrowth is found to be the highest). These regions, involved in social interactions and language, are still forming vital connections during the same time that autistic behaviors begin emerging. Can having abnormally large brain structures during this stage of development affect neural connections? Perhaps the substrate (brain tissue) is too dense for neurons to migrate properly to find their appropriate connections or perhaps they never reach their destination because they have too far to travel (in the bigger structures). Too little is known about the complexity of how neural networks communicate to make any real inferences about such shifts in neuron connectivity, but with the fast rate of improvement in the field of bioinformatics, computational neuroscience is becoming increasingly important with generating models for simulating neural networks.

Considerations for developmental aspects of autism are becoming ever more important. Even gene-association studies may be inconsistent because the genes that cause and regulate differential development may not be the same as those genes that respond to these differences later in life, making it hard to define a clear set of “autism” genes. This means, that genes found in autism studies may be identifying genes involved with secondary issues and are not finding genes that have to do with developing autism directly. Indeed, many genes identified thus far in autistic patients have to do with regulating cell death in the brain and may only be expressed secondarily in response to the overgrowth of particular brain structures. There are also other epigenetic processes that occur only during this early period of development that regulate gene expression without changing genetic code (ie-no mutations to find) which may also account for inconsistency between genetic studies. Hopefully, with this new emphasis for researching early developmental mechanisms in autism, new experimental research will elucidate how brain structures relate to our conscious experience and give a deeper sense of understanding and appreciating for our own brain and experiences.

Courchesne et al., 2007. Neuron 56:399-413.

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While reading some interesting literature, I stumbled upon research that showed similarities between serotonin’s role in OCD and the role serotonin plays in neurochemical bonding, more commonly known as “love.” The idea of chemicals causing love, and the fact that at least one of these “love chemicals” is directly responsible for giving us our aspie traits, fascinates me.

Serotonin is actually the chemical that interacts with the brain during the initial “attraction” phase of a relationship, along with dopamine and norepinephrine (it’s no coincidence that the anti-depressants prescribed for OCD, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, can cause a decrease in a person’s ability to fall in love). Interestingly, lower-than-normal levels of serotonin are common among “newfound lovers” and are also common in, you guesssed it, people with OCD.

Consequently, you could say that the newly-lovestruck couple going to prom together for the first time have actually fallen into OCD with each other; although you’d probably receive strange looks from anyone who hears you utter such a bizzare bastardization of a ubiquitously understood phrase. Wow, the term “love-sickness” is starting to make a whole lot of sense now, isn’t it?

Unlike Serotonin (which plays an important role in the early stage of a relationship), a chemical known as Oxytocin is linked to the long term bonding phase of a more mature romantic relationship. I bet you can guess what chemical is released into the brains of two lovers after they experience an orgasm (hint: it starts with a big O).

Oxytocin may not be directly linked to OCD, however. But Oxytocin and Sertonin, along with other neuro chemicals (such as Testosterone, Estrogen, Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Vasopressin) interact to create the whole spectrum of “romantic love” that two humans experience together. An even larger variety of neurochemicals constantly work in parallel to create the full human emotional experience, which manifests itself mentally as well as physically (it’s not just a coincidence that your palms start to sweat and your heart begins to beat a little faster when you run into that special someone).

Interestingly enough, due to the bizarre ways these neuro chemicals interact with your brain, certain levels of Oxytocin may play a role in OCD and Asperger’s after all! Why else would the Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology publish a study² in 2003 entitled Oxytocin Infusion Reduces Repetitive Behaviors in Adults with Autistic and Asperger’s Disorders? This study argues that “repetitive behavior in autism spectrum disorders may be related to abnormalities in the oxytocin system, and may be partially ameliorated by synthetic oxytocin infusion.” Say what?

Wait. Does this mean that having a lot of sex will decrease the amount of time you spend stimming and also cause you to spend less time focused on your special interests? I have no idea; I’m not a clinical neuropsychopharmacologist.

References

• [1] “On Love,” National Geographic, February 2006
• [2] Neuropsychopharmacology (2003) 28, 193-198.
• [3] Wikipedia contributors, “Love (scientific views),” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Love_%28scientific_views%29&oldid=113411348 (accessed March 11, 2007).

The swan photograph, by R Neil Marshman, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

^{© Alexander Plank, 2007}

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