by Sue Bennett
With
fascination, I recently read Scientific
American's September 2003 special issue on the brain.
This special issue of Scientific American focuses on new research that could lead to repairing the brain,
previously thought impossible.
In this article, I attempt to tie together some of the information from
Scientific American that is relevant to autism.
This is followed by my thoughts on how the new data provided by this
research could apply to
autism and its treatment.
Several
of the articles state that much of the new brain research could lead to new
treatments for autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. One area of the brain implicated in playing an
important part in all of these diseases is the hippocampus. The
hippocampus is an area of the brain critical for both remembering new
information and making new brain cells (and memories).
The hippocampus is located next to the olfactory bulb that
processes smells. Interestingly,
one of the early signs of Parkinson’s is a reduced sense of smell
– there is also a high incidence of Parkinson’s in rubber workers,
such as those people who work in tire manufacturing plants – where
the strong smell of rubber often causes workers to lose their sense of
smell over time. Also,
many children with Asperger’s Syndrome are hyper-sensitive to smells
– which makes one wonder if there is a connection.
The
hippocampus is also subject to damage by chronic stress – including
initial research indicating stress experienced by pregnant animals
may effect the development of the fetus’s hippocampus in the womb,
resulting in a smaller than normal hippocampus.
Chronic stress after birth may also cause the hippocampus to
shrink, possibly causing fewer than normal brain cells to be produced.
Research also indicates that chronic stress also causes stronger
neurological circuitry to be developed and more easily triggered
relating to the flight or fight response, diverting development from
the higher areas of thinking and reasoning, such as the prefrontal
cortex, those areas that are typically not as well developed and
connected in autism.
Interestingly,
the hippocampus produces double the number of brain cells with regular
exercise session of an hour a day.
Also, exercise seems to help protect against Alzheimer’s.
There
was also an article in this issue on brain plasticity (the ability of the brain to
change) and Fast Forward, an intensive computer program designed to
improve auditory processing and reading by a pioneer in the theory
that the brain’s circuitry can be changed through mental exercise.
This theory does seem to be gaining more credibility through
corroborating research that indicates that MRIs of brain patterns in
stroke patients change after rehabilitative therapies.
The key to rewiring the brain appears to partially be having
the therapy take at least 2-4 hours for at least two weeks – under
these conditions, MRIs show a change in areas of the brain that
are used to complete tasks - or to take on new tasks previously
accomplished by a now damaged part of the brain. Frequently,
after a stroke that impairs language, the language processing is
taken on by the music processing area of the brain.
The
most astounding example of brain recovery is the actor, Christopher
Reeves, who years after being paralyzed in a horseback riding
accident, is now regaining the ability to move his fingers and push
with his legs through intensive physical therapy, where his limbs were
moved for him. Similarly stroke patients are now regaining use
of limbs not operable for years by temporarily immobilizing the limbs
that are working on the opposite side of the brain and providing an
intensive therapy with the paralyzed limbs.
Also, with musicians who have had strokes, exercising fingers
individually after a stroke helps to retrain the neurological map in
the brain to allow independent control of fingers again.
What
are the implications of the data emerging from this latest research
for our children within the autism spectrum and how can we make use of
it? Here
are my thoughts:
1.
The good news is that children and even adults can develop new
neurological pathways that take on new functions within the brain. With
effective therapies, we should be able to help our children
build new abilities in areas such as language, social skills and reasoning.
2.
Therapies
that target areas of deficit that are consistent, repetitive (until a task is mastered) and
intensive (take place several hours a week) can begin to create new neurological pathways in the
brain in just two weeks. In stories
of miraculous breakthroughs for children with a disability (such as
Helen Keller learning to speak or Catherine Maurice's children who have recovered from
autism), the breakthroughs occurred when the child received an
intensive amount of one-on-one therapy from one or more
adults.
3.
Therapies
that are inconsistent, change from
week to week and/or are only done a few minutes or a few times a week typically
do not result in profound improvements in levels of functioning
or the development of new abilities.
4.
Make
sure the child gets exercise every day (preferably 1 hour a day) to
reduce stress and create an optimal amount of brain cells to foster
greater neurological development. (I would recommend including exercises
that are bilateral - using both the
right and left sides of the body. Bilateral exercise stimulates
cross-communication between the left and right hemispheres
of the brain. Bilateral exercises include walking and swinging
the arms simultaneously, running, biking, swimming jumping jacks, and
windmill toe touches.)
5.
Keep
the child’s stress level at a minimum!
This improves memory, protects
the brain, and promotes greater use of higher level reasoning areas of the
brain.
In
addition to the research mentioned above, other Scientific American
articles in this issue discussed research into new drugs that will
enhance and protect memory, and research into regenerating the
brain. There is much for us to hope for in finding new
treatments and possibly even a cure for autism.
