Studies lead to newer findings in Autism

New research has found out that Autism damages the entire brain and not just those parts which are involved in social interaction, communication behaviors and reasoning abilities, as was thought earlier.

The study was conducted by scientists in a research network supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It was found out the autism affects a range of abilities and skills, including perception, movement and memory.

According to the team involved in this latest research, the findings indicate that autism is a disorder in which the various parts of the brain have difficulty working together to accomplish complex tasks. As a result of this, the person has difficulty in comprehending the world around him. Not only this, areas like communication, relationships and imagination also suffer.

Dr Duane Alexander explained that in order to gain further insight into the disorder, factors affecting all areas of the brain will have to be studied. He said that the study is incomplete if limited areas of the brain are studied.

Since long, only a few symptoms of autism were taken into consideration. Limited areas of the brain were concentrated upon earlier. However, new research has begun studying other aspects of the condition, as people with autism also have difficulties in other areas as well.

The study was conducted on 112 children, 56 children with autism and 56 without the condition. When tested for basic functioning, the children with the disorder performed as well as the other children. However, they found it difficult to solve complex tasks.

In the test for memory, the children with autism had difficulty in comprehending the story told to them. Some had excellent grammar skills, but complex parts of speech such as idioms and metaphors were not understood by them.

Dr Nancy Minshew said that these children also have difficulty in doing the daily chores like getting a glass of water, tying the shoelace, etc. She added that these findings suggest that autism should not be cut into just three segments; it is much more complex than ever thought of.

The findings, appearing in the August Child Neuropsychology strongly suggests that autism is not primarily a disorder of social interaction, but a global disorder affecting how the brain processes the information it receives, especially when the information becomes elaborated.

Autism is a disorder in which the various parts of the brain have difficulty working together to accomplish complex tasks.