1. The Autism Spectrum and the brain Part 2

2. Our Information jigsaw
And about:
Fixed routine
Repetitive behaviors
Trouble with empathy
New DSM-5 uses ASD instead of Autism, Asperger, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Prevalence: 1 in 55
ASD is about:
Overstimulation
Motivated by various things
Restricted interest
High/low function along the spectrum
Flat affect

3. Review - ASD Definitions Social Interaction Symptoms
Communicate
Symptoms
Response to Sensory
Other Behaviors
Diagnosis
1 in 55
Mirror Neuron
Prevalence

4. Outline Research Causes Mirror Neuron 2 Auditory experiments
Treatments

5. Objectives - ASD Identify potential causes
Recognize the main goal of the treatments
Explain mirror neuron system
Match the purposes of the studies to the challenges people with ASD encounter

6. Causes Caused by abnormally developing brain structure and function
But WHAT causes the abnormal development?
Scientists don’t know the exact causes of ASD

7. Potential Causes Genetic basis Environmental factors
Both ASD: Identical > fraternal twins or siblings
Higher chance: family members with ASD
Mild symptoms: relatives of child with ASD
Environmental factors
Parental age
Complication during birth
ASD affects boys times more often than girls

8. Potential Causes
n Genetic basis
q Both ASD: Identical > fraternal twins or siblings
q Higher chance: family members with ASD
q Mild symptoms: parents or relatives of child with ASD
n Environmental factors
q Parental age
q Complication during birth
n ASD affects boys times more often than girls
These potential causes are NOT triggering ASD, but increasing the risk of ASD
There is no one single cause, but a
combination of genetic and environmental factors that affect early brain development

9. Other suspected causes
Chemical imbalance
Viruses
Problems in digestive tract
There is no consensus on these causes
Protective factor: prenatal vitamin – folic acid
No link between childhood vaccination and Autism

10. Myths about ASD They don’t want friend
Can’t feel or express any emotions
Can’t understand others’ emotions
They are intellectually disabled
They are all like Rain Man
They will have ASD forever
It’s just a brain disorder (comorbidity)
Caused by bad parenting
Therapies are covered by insurance

11. Treatments and Therapies
Cannot be completely cured
But they can:
Make improvements
Reduce the challenges in daily life
Might be “test out” of ASD diagnosis

12. Goals of Early Intervention (under age of 3):
Treatments and Therapies
Goals of Early Intervention (under age of 3):
Kids with ASD Parents
Improve core behavior symptoms
Build their strengths
Learn new skills
Remediate
Resources
Support
Trainings: work and play with the child
Receive counseling
weakness
Above age of 3
Special education service
Adopted by The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) And by Wendy L. Stone, PhD & Theresa Foy DiGeromino, MEd

13. Treatments and Therapies
n Early Intervention (under age of 3):
q Involves the family and a team of professionals
q Intensive
q Highly structured
q Constructive activities
q Tailored to meet child’s needs and interests
n Children with ASD can make great improvements from the intervention

14. The therapies include:
Treatments and Therapies
The therapies include:
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Speech-language therapy
Sensory integration and vision therapy
Medications
The best treatment plan:
A combination of the therapies and techniques that is customized to meet the child’s needs

15. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
An discriminative stimulus (signal)
Response / Prompt
Positive reinforcement / Correction

16. Medications
Treat associated behavioral or emotional problems, including:
Aggression, Anxiety, Tantrums
Attention problems
Hyperactivity, Impulsiveness
Irritability, Mood swings, Outbursts, Extreme compulsions that the child cannot stop
Sleep difficulty

17. Brief summary Causes Treatments Abnormal brain development
Genetic factor
Environment factor
Treatments
Cannot be cure
Focus on core behavioral symptoms
E.g., ABA, occupational therapy, speech language therapy, medication

18. Research on ASD

19. Why do we study ASD? For the population: Rising prevalence
Better educational environment
Early diagnosis before 1yr
Better treatment plan

20. Why do we study ASD? For research:
How and why individuals with ASD perceive and interact with the world differently?
Where do the exceptional skills come from?
Understand how the brain works

22. Kim’s brain What brain structure is missing?
corpus callosum
What is the main function of this structure?
Communicating between 2 hemispheres
How does his brain compensate for the missing corpus callosum?
The fibers travel elsewhere
Forming peculiar connections

23. Brain Imaging Research
Brain structure
Anatomy
Brain function
Mirror Neuron
Pitch perception
Sound duration perception …

24. Mirror Neuron Important for:
Action understanding
Imitation learning
Originally discovered in monkey’s premotor cortex
Do a particular action
Observe others (monkey/human) performing that same action
See Review: Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annu. Rev. Neurosci., 27,
Picture:

25. The mirror neuron system
In human
A set of brain regions
Cortical areas related to motor
Occipital, Temporal and Parietal
Inferior frontal gyrus
Motor cortex is activated
Active movements
Observe others’ movements
Precentral gyrus
Inferior parietal lobule
A set of brain regions

26. Mirror Neuron Also plays a role in:
Empathy: others’ emotions and sensations
Understand intentions
Imitation
Language
Overlap with the difficulties found in ASD

27. The Broken Mirror Theory of ASD
More severe symptoms, less activation in mirror neuron system (Activity 13)
The cortical areas of mirror neuron system are thinner in people with ASD
The degree of thinning is correlated to the severity of the symptoms
Caution! Using broken mirror theory to explain ASD is still over simplistic!

28. What can researchers in speech language hearing sciences do?

29. Pitch perception 12 individuals with ASD
Remember that
they are good at details
12 individuals with ASD
12 individuals as control group
Listen to pure tones with different pitches
Task:
Discrimination: answer “same” or “different”
Categorization: answer “high” or “low”
Individuals with ASD had superior performance on both tasks
Bonnel, A., Mottron, L., Peretz, I., Trudel, M., Gallun, E., & Bonnel, A. M. (2003).
Enhanced pitch sensitivity in individuals with autism: a signal detection analysis. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 15(2),

30. Sound duration perception
15 children with ASD
15 children as control group
Passively listen to speech or non-speech
Long duration / high pitch
They are good at details?
Long duration / low pitch Short duration / high pitch Short duration / low pitch
Individuals with ASD had superior performance on pitch, but impaired ability in
duration
Lepistö, T., Kujala, T., Vanhala, R., Alku, P., Huotilainen, M., & Näätänen, R. (2005).
The discrimination of and orienting to speech and non-speech sounds in children with autism. Brain research, 1066(1),

31. Summary We know more about ASD Research Potential causes Treatments
Mirror neuron system
Better at discriminateing pitch
Poorer at discriminating sound duration