Autism: Brain Stem & Aggression Connection Really Hit Home for This Mom!!!

I just read about new research connecting the size of an individuals brain stem to autism-related aggression. This could explain why after years of behavioral therapy we have massively reduced Nick's aggression, but it's NOT gone. 

I'm always trying to explain to people who interact act with Nick that you have to help Nick be proactive in deescalating himself, because once he gets upset it's only going to escalate, and it could take minutes, hours or even days for him to come back to baseline. This connection speaks to so much in Nicholas. I'm like "Wow".

I'm sending this to his neurologist right now. You may want to do the same.

New research from BYU's autism experts is providing clues into the link between aggression and autism -- clues the team hopes will eventually lead to more effective intervention.  

In the study, published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, researchers report an inverse correlation between aggression and brain stem volume in children with autism: the smaller the brain stem, the greater the likelihood of aggression.

The finding, though preliminary, is significant in part because "the brain stem is really involved in autonomic activities -- breathing, heart rate, staying awake -- so this is evidence that there's something core and basic, this connection between aggression and autism," said coauthor and BYU clinical psychology Ph.D. student Kevin Stephenson.

For the project, the team examined MRI images from two groups of children with autism: one that exhibited problematic levels of aggression and one that didn't. Study coauthor Terisa Gabrielsen, a BYU assistant professor of school psychology, said identifying the brain stem as having at least a partial involvement in aggression helps lay a foundation for better treatment. "If we know what part of the brain is different and what function that part of the brain controls, that can give us some clues into what we can do in the way of intervention," she said.

Coauthor and BYU psychology professor Mikle South added, "Once the body arousal in a child is too much -- the heart is beating, the hands are clenched and the body is sweating -- it's too late. Some of these kids, if the brain isn't working as efficiently, they may pass that point of no return sooner. So with behavioral interventions, we try to find out what the trigger is and intervene early before that arousal becomes too much."

BYU's Autism Connect team originated three years ago in BYU's David O. McKay School of Education, though it now includes researchers from other colleges on campus and collaborators beyond BYU. This paper, spearheaded by BYU psychology assistant professor Rebecca Lundwall, had 11 authors from BYU, one from the University of Utah and one from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The group used data collected from a University of Utah autism study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Studying aggression is Autism Connect's "overarching agenda," said Gabrielsen, "because it impacts families' quality of life so significantly. If we look long-term at things that affect the family the most, aggression is one of the most disruptive."

South recounted a conversation with the mother of a child he recently diagnosed: to cope with stress, the child often pulled her mother's hair, "so I just have a lot less hair than I used to," she told him. Aggression, South noted, "makes the family dynamic very difficult, the school dynamic very difficult. It's just a particularly difficult type of autism."

In addition to a number of other studies planned or in process, the team is interested in exploring further how the brain stem is connected functionally to other areas of the brain, "because usually the brain doesn't work from just one area; it's a network of areas that all work together," Stephenson said. "So if one area is disrupted, it's likely that other areas are disrupted as well."

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Story Source:

Materials provided by Brigham Young University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Rebecca A. Lundwall, Kevin G. Stephenson, E. Shannon Neeley-Tass, Jonathan C. Cox, Mikle South, Erin D. Bigler, Emily Anderberg, Molly D. Prigge, Blake D. Hansen, Janet E. Lainhart, Ryan O. Kellems, Jo Ann Petrie, Terisa P. Gabrielsen. Relationship between brain stem volume and aggression in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2017; 34: 44 DOI: 10.1016/j.rasd.2016.12.001

How Google Glass for Autism Can Get You Your Hearts Desire!

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000553150  - Story on CNBC
Google Glass flopped in the general market, however, the folks at Standford did not overlook the potential benefits to other markets.  They recently developed a new use for Google Glass: Helping children with autism improve their understanding of facial cues.  

Seeing Nick consistently and correctly respond to facial cues would be a game changer! Until you've met a person who does not have this skill it's impossible to understand how vulnerable it makes them, and the many ways in which it makes it impossible for them to respond to, fit in and connect with others in the simplest ways. 

For those of you who don't know what I mean, try this; Ask someone to shoot you every look they use to convey a non-verbal message (they can include hand gestures if they like) and then think what that tells you, and how you would act differently knowing that information.  For example, you see a creepy look so you move away, a sad look and you feel concern, maybe step closer and ask "what's wrong"? You Get The Idea...

Then have them shoot you the same looks, make the same gestures while you have your eyes covered.  Notice your response...
Now you know what it's like to have autism and not be able to read social cues.

Hey Google, when will this be available to families? 


http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000553150  - Story on CNBC

Autism Glass Project  Link to the Stanford Program

Riddle me this? Where do we all send our kids where Common Sense is Not Common????

Riddle me this? Where do we all have to go, where Common Sense Not Common???? School! Beware the "Drill and Kill" it starts in 1st grade and continues to follow as a preferred educational method through high-school, which makes no sense! Let's be real, if my child has not learned the calendar by High School, continuing to do "Circle time and drilling months and days of the week" is not going to cut it! Clearly he doesn't care, or get the relevence. 

Until recently I thought that was the epitome of "No Common Sense", it couldn’t' get any worse. And then BAM...surprise more crazy crazy! My son who is not on the diploma track, has to sit in the classroom and do worksheets for English, math and history because it's common core! Common Core for WHO!!!  Nick is not on the diploma track  and he doesn't need to know the history of America or recite the Presidents. What he needs is life and vocational skills. He needs to be able to walk from point A to point B safely. He needs to be able to ask questions and follow directions relevant to doing a job. He needs to use the math and reading skills he has already learned to do a job. He needs to be given an IEP that lets him take what he has learned from Kinder to 9th grade and apply them. He needs to generalize what he has learned to the real world, so when he leaves school he has learned something that will help him exist in society! He needs and deserves an education that helps him to be independent, and memorizing information that means nothing will not get him there. 

However LAUSD seemingly disagrees with federal law, that states a student’s IEP is king. So, here I go again folks another battle. Wish me luck! 

Sincerely,

Angry Mom! 

Autism Brain-Study Underway at WVU

By GLYNIS BOARD

Credit Wikimedia Commons

The Center for Disease Control reports that one in 68 children in the U.S. will have autism. That number jumps to 1 in 42 if we’re just talking about boys. And the risk increases if you already a have a child with autism. In West Virginia, new research is underway to try to get at how the autistic mind ticks.

Paula Webster at the Center for Neuroscience at WVU.

Credit West Virginia University

Paula Webster is a neuroscience graduate who works in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Center for Neuroscience at West Virginia University.

While a psychology major at Wheeling Jesuit University, Webster discovered her three-year-old son was on the Autism Spectrum. She became a therapist who practiced applied behavioral analysis (ABA). But Webster wants to know more than how to intervene after diagnosis.

This is the first biomedical research into autism at the university. The study hopes to incorporate subjects in a wide range of ages—children through adults.

Webster works with Assistant Professor at WVU James Lewis, a neuroscientist. They taking and studying images of the brains of people with and without autism performing certain tasks.

The research isn’t just focused on what parts of the brain kids and adults with autism use, but also how they process information. It’s clear, said Webster, that there are many with autism who compensate to accomplish tasks. She hopes that by imaging high-functioning individuals with autism she may be able to start to characterize some of the methods of compensation they’re using.

Webster speculates it may be those mechanisms that allow them to be high-functioning.

“I think we can get at trying to characterize some of those compensatory mechanisms a little bit better,” Webster said, “and correlate those with sub-scores of autism scores to try to get some sub-types of autism.”

Webster hopes the research will go towards influencing the various therapies that exist as well as possibly providing a way to diagnose autism earlier, which in and of itself would be a powerful tool to help abate the condition.