need to add title here

Temple Grandin's unique brain

October 23, 2011 12:33 PM

Neuroscientist Walt Schneider says studying the brains of people with autism like Temple Grandin - the famous animal welfare advocate - could help identify "sub-types" of autism and how best to treat them.

Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad
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by manijeh3 October 26, 2011 6:30 PM EDT
We need to start schools for these Non-Oral children. It is madening for parents to constantly try to prove to physicians/teachers/friends/neighbors etc. that THEY get it! Possibly even more on other levels/vibrations than we know. Lets start to look at this in a positive way, because they may be coming here in higher #'s to TEACH us about something.
And, yes it gets tiring explaining to the typicals who seem to be unable to change their destructive/pathetic patterns why my 10 year old still can't toilet. Time to reinvent the wheel. New testing or no testing...?
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by jwdunn04 October 26, 2011 10:49 AM EDT
I am curious to find out if anyone has heard of neurofeeback. I recently found information on how it may aid with brain patterns being identified. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. It would be interesting to see studies and research as a follow up to this story.
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by misszee October 25, 2011 2:06 PM EDT
Research is being conducted about Fragile X Syndrome that also supports this. Fragile X is the leading cause of inherited mental impairment and the leading known genetic link to Autism. Approximately 30% of those diagnosed with Fragile X have a dual diagnosis of Autism. It is estimated that between 2-6% of those diagnosed with Autism may in fact have Fragile X. It is recommended that anyone diagnosed with Autism be tested(via genetic blood test) for Fragile X.

Fragile X is a genetic disorder that causes a limited if any production of a protein called FMRP in the brain. It is believed that this protein functions as a regulator in the brain. Newer research is showing that the FMRP possibly regulates over 800 different processes within the brain. Recently at an educational seminar I attended there was a fantastic slide that showed how a mature synapse in the brain looks...then there was the synapse in a Fragile X brain. It was rounded and slippery looking vs a solid wide flat synapse. Basically forming several loose connections vs few solid.

I have a 10 year old son with Fragile X. We are fortunate he is verbal, yet he certainly has a significant speech, cognitive(we believe)and motor delays. He also has behavioral challenges because of the delays.

The progress in the world of Fragile X in the past decade has been tremendous!! There are even 2 different Fragile X targeted medications currently in phase 3 trial and appear to be showing great promise!! One of the medications is also being done for Autism as well!
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by cgkleiber October 25, 2011 10:36 AM EDT
I think previous commenters need to remember these are "web extras" that need to be seen in context of the orginal segment. Also this series was not at all to be about the causes of autism - rather it was looking at aids to developing language.
I think the research here is fascinating, as a parent of a child with a genetic microdeletion and "autistic features". I have two regrets with this information going to the public in this fashion and they are both that it is limited. First, no where does Dr. Schneider positively note that Temple has language and it is well do to the many therapies she received as a child that leveraged the neuroplasticity of the brain to develop circuits where others did not. The viewer is left with the idea that unless your neural highway looks like X you are stuck. The second is that there is NO discussion of the age of the subjects of his work. There is NO doubt in my mind that the images of Temple's language network at age 3, 8, 14, 22, etc may all be different. My BIGGEST fear is that this information will be used to start analyzing a child's brain in utero and physicians will start speculating that a child will be autistic, without language, etc. and the eugenics will begin. This is sooooo dangerous. There are MANY disorders of language - dyspraxia, aphasia, etc that are no comorbid with autism. And I venture to say that many of these children's language circuits would be indistinguishable from an autistic child. Science is long and far away from reliably projecting the developmental capabilities of the vast array of people with atypical neurodevelopment. Caution must be the guide of the day or we may very well lose the gift of some truly amazing people.
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by maurine9 October 24, 2011 8:53 AM EDT
The autism community is getting tired of hearing the same old information
over and over again. While the numbers of children affected keep growing--the government, doctors etc can tell us nothing new. Millions of dollars are spent on ridiculous studies like living close to freeways and watching too much Sponge Bob can cause autism. Why aren't researchers doing that all important sutdy of fully vaccinated vs fully unvaccinated children to see if two percent of the young male populations have autism too? Sadly, this program amounted to less than a can of empty beeans.
maurine Meleck, SC
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by quartzacademy October 23, 2011 9:10 PM EDT
Thank you so much for this amazing look at the fiber image of the brains of normal vs. asperger's!!! I was able to show my children why our youngest struggles so much with staying dry at the age of 10. What an amazing gift you have given our family!!! Thanks so much!
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