Aspies For Freedom

Autism problems explained in new research
New research from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute helps to explain why children with autism spectrum disorders (autism) have problem-solving difficulties.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging technology (fMRI) the Florey scientists have shown that children with autism have less activation in the deep parts of the brain responsible for executive function (attention, reasoning and problem solving).

Research leader Dr Ross Cunnington said autism was known to have a biological cause, but this neuroimaging research clearly showed the dysfunction in the brain that accounted for why children with autism have problems with their executive function.

"Discovering why children with autism have impaired executive function may help develop better therapies to improve their ability to pay attention and solve problems," Dr Cunnington said.

Specifically, we found that activity in the caudate nucleus, a critical part of circuits that link the prefrontal cortex of the brain, is reduced in boys with autism."

"These findings have important implications, since prefrontal brain circuits play a critical role in maintaining and focusing attention, planning and setting goals, and keeping goals in memory during problem-solving and decision-making."

"Our neuroimaging findings showing dysfunction in these prefrontal brain circuits now explain why children with autism have problems with learning and problem-solving," he said.

Dr Cunnington along with PhD student, Tim Silk, have also been studying children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and have found similarities in the impairment of specific executive function in children with ADHD and autism.

The autism study was conducted with boys aged 11 to 18 years who had autism or Asperger's disorder, as well teenage boys without the condition.

Autism affects one in 100 Australians and is lifelong condition that affects the way a person communicates and relates to other people. People affected by autism typically display major impairments in social interaction, communication and behaviour (restricted interests and repetitive behaviours).

The majority of people with autism also have an intellectual disability. Those with Asperger's disorder are typically of average or above average intelligence and may have relatively good communication skills but specific learning difficulties.

The Florey scientists collaborated with scientists from Monash University, the Brain Research Institute and Texas Tech University in the USA. The results of this research are soon to be published in American Journal of Psychiatry.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...102305.php

How come journos keep saying that autism occurs in 1 in 100 people, when they really mean autism and Aspergers and all the other syndromes lumped on the spectrum? I mean, they say it's 1 in 100 and that the majority have intellectual impairment, but in the next breath they say that Aspies have normal or above average intelligence, when we make up the majority? Isn't that a complete contradiction?

The "expert" says that autistic people have an impairment in our ability to reason, but us aspies didn't have much difficulty in picking a logical flaw in his article. How can that be?  :?

If all autistic people have an impairment in our ability to reason, then how does Dr Knownothing explain the fact that AS or autistic traits have been identified in many of the world's most eminent scientists, mathematicians and philosophers? :roll: Was Kant really a thickhead? Newton a few bricks short of a load? Einstein a dumbkopf? Wittgenstien a dunce? A. J. Ayer a simpleton? Spinoza a spaz? Simone Weil a slow learner? Borcherds just pretending to be a maths professor? I think it could be Dr Knownothing who has the problem!

"The "expert" says that autistic people have an impairment in our ability to reason, but us aspies didn't have much difficulty in picking a logical flaw in his article. How can that be?"

Lol. :razz:

Because it's sensational and more likely to scare paranoid mothers, why else?

Noetic, I did not say anything at all about "executive dysfunction", the article said stuff about "executive dysfunction" and reasoning and autism. Their words, not mine. You know I don't believe in "executive dysfunction", so why would I bother to express any opinion about it, besides dismissing it?

If you believe in the "executive dysfunction" in autism nonsense, then you believe we all have a deficit in our ability to reason. And if you think the human abilities to plan, solve problems, reason and pay attention can all be wiped out by some problem with some little bit of the brain called the "caudate nucleus", then you don't understand the concept of individual differences in neurology or the concept of redundance and robustness built into complex systems that are the product of biological evolution.

In the Golden Age of Psychosurgery (roughly 1945 - 1975) almost every part of the brain that could be selectively cut out, burned away, or isolated in way or the other to disconnect it without actually killing the patient was tried. Not merely the famous frontal lobes, but elements of the so-called limbic system - hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate gyrus etc were each believed to be "centres" controlling socially undesirable behaviour of one sort or another, and each had its supporters in the clinical literature. Even dividing the brain into two independently working hemispheres by commissurotomy was tried by some.

But no such "centre" was ever discovered.

Stella

I do have problems with executive function, its just one of those things, I haven't found anything to be able to make planning easier, like you said Theosoph, it does some to affect the ability to make choices too.

I had to laugh at your description about the lawnmower, making a decision sometimes is a nightmare, it can seem that there is no right answer, only wrong or imperfect answers.

I have tried making timetables, and writing things down in electronic planner, filofax, calendar.
Have tried having a visual reminder of the actual object, such as a form to fill in, right in front of me on the desk, but with a combination of inertia, executive functioning, extreme focus in other areas, I haven't found a solution yet.

Greetings,

One thing that pisses me off is the fact that 'executive dysfunction' is really another name for AD/HD.

If we use the former then we have a group of people on the autistic spectrum who cant organise themselves and because it is lumped in with autism then there is no hope for these people.

If we use the latter then we have a condition that is treatable.  I was diagnosed with AS, ADHD and OCD and I am still fighting to try and get treatment for my inattention which is probably the single biggest factor in my inability to hold down a job.  The only obstacle to this is incompetent morons who refuse to recognise it despite the diagnosis and despite the fact that is it recognised by the NHS and adult medication is approved.

Whoa Theosoph, what is that on your avatar?

I'd take this whole "executive dysfunction" thing more seriously if not for two different points. Firstly, I can think of stacks of explanations besides some ill-defined form of brain damage for just about every example of "executive dysfunction" that I read about.

The idea might also seem more credible if there weren't about a dozen conditions other than autism which it is supposed to be found with. So how the heck can "executive dysfunction" be one "theory of autism", if it isn't at all specific to autism? I used to know a young lady who had the greatest trouble making decisions, and when she did make a decision she would drive us insane with her second-guessing. She failed to follow-through on significant ventures that she started. She wasn't the least bit autistic, her diagnosis was clinical depression. An inability to concentrate is a well-recognised sympton of depression (and is also the central issue of ADHD, but what sympton ISN'T a symptom of ADHD?). Apparently her father molested her (I've been given hints of such a thing), so if that were true it would explain the clinical depression. She wasn't the only sibling in her family to have serious self-destructive issues. Her problem wasn't her brain structure or her neurochemistry, it was her @#$%-up family of origin.

That's right, Lili! "Executive dysfunction" doesn't really mean anything more than "faulty performance" and is at best a description, not a theory.

It's the kind of pseudo-scientific language that quacks use to sell themselves and their products  at curebie patent medicine shows.

Stella

Stella, you have not found the idea of "executive dysfunction" to be of any use in understanding any difficulties that you may have?

I'm happy to admit that I never want to have a job that involves being the boss or supervising other people or coming up with complex plans that involve other people, but I do not think this is executive dysfunction to any degree, I think I just have a realistic idea of my ability to deal with NTs and function in a world that is set up for them, and where they get to judge if a project is a success or not.

Recently some aspies that I know IRL have been working together and getting things done and making good decisions in a very effective manner. Maybe aspies take longer than NTs to make decisions, but I think it's better to make a good decision slowly than make a stupid decision quickly. I think NTs often stuff-up because they rush things to try to impress people with their speed. The other day my aspie husband picked up on something that a rushing NT missed, and at the time I felt that he was maybe being a bit rude and pedantic and time-wasting when he pointed it out, but he actually "saved the day" because his observation turned out to be very important.