Brain Scan Explains Why Some Autistic Kids Don’t Acquire Language Skills
A brain scan given to toddlers who are on the autism spectrum can predict the childs future language development, researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine [ 1 ] reported Thursday.
By Alexander Nguyen April 9, 2015
A study published in the online edition of the journal Neuron [ 2 ] shows a strong relationship between irregularities in speech activation of the temporal cortex area of the brain and actual language ability in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder .
Image depicts patterns of brain activation in typically developing, ASD Good and ASD Poor language ability toddlers in response to speech sounds during their earliest brain scan (ages 12-29 months). [Photo courtesy of UCSD News Center]
We wanted to see if patterns of brain activity in response to language can explain and predict how well language skills would develop in a toddler with ASD before that toddler actually began talking, said Eric Courchesne, a professor of neurosciences and co-director of theAutism Center of Excellence [ 3 ] at UCSD.
Autism said to be present in about out of 68 children in the U.S. presents difficulties for scientists because it presents itself in a variety of ways, and can be hard to detect in very young children.
Courchesne said language is a prime example.
Some individuals are minimally verbal throughout life. They display high levels of symptom severity and may have poor clinical outcomes, Courchene said. Others display delayed early language development, but then progressively acquire language skills and have relatively more positive clinical outcomes.
Karen Pierce, associate professor of neurosciences and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence, said its important to develop more and new biological ways to identify and stratify the ASD population into clinical sub-types so the patients can receive better, more individualized treatments.
The researchers used a functional magnetic resonance imaging device to measure the neural systems response to speech in 1- and 2-year-old toddlers, and compared them with assessments of the same childrens language skills two years later.
They said children with diminished or abnormal speech responses had poor language skills in the subsequent test. Those with responses closer to children who arent on the spectrum did better, the researchers said.
Scientists at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and University of Cambridge assisted with the study, which was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Foundation for Autism Research, Jesus College of Cambridge and the British Academy.
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One in 68 U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a 30% increase from 1 in 88 two years ago, according to a new report released Mar 28, 2014 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Is this an increase in occurrences, or is it an increase in the number of diagnoses recognized as ASD?
There doesn't appear to be a link to the article anywhere . If this from the timesofsandiego.com ?
Sorry about that Petey. The post is from the Times of San Diego and reflects the entire UC San Diego report, that's why I didn't provide a link, although I suppose I should have, as it does take the reader to other related articles.
Actually the UCSD study was also published by Philly.com ,the Daily Herald and Tech Times . I used the Times of SD report because of the graphics, although it may have been better to use the Philly.com release, because HealthDay reporter, Tara Haelle goes into much more detail on the topic.
Thanks for the heads up Petey.
Btw, have you ever looked into, or know someone involved in an autism issue?
Very interesting, however the article doesn't say if that brain is permanently damaged in that area, dead tissue, or if it somehow it can be stimulated, either medically or surgically to increase to possibility of verbal (and hopefully) other skills developing. It's going to very interesting if more research is done in that area. If successful it may even have implications in the treatment of Alzheimer's.
Veryinterestingobservation MM. There has been a connection made betweenAutism and Alzheimer's that has been discussed in various medical publications.
Here's an excerpt from one of them;
When things go wrong in the brains of both the very old and the very young, the cause is often the same. In children, the result is frequently autism. In seniors, its Alzheimers.
So what do Alzheimers and autism have in common? For starters, theres the fact that both children and adults are exposed to aluminum. By 18 months, children are already exposed to more aluminum from vaccinations than they will be exposed to the rest of their lives. Older people, meanwhile, have a lifetime accumulation of aluminum . [ Read more ]
The aluminum theory in relation to autism is one of the factors that has sparked the anti-vaxxer movement.
IMO, IF the aluminum theory has merit, the risk involve regarding autism is far outweighed by the risks an unvaccinated child will face regarding whooping cough, measles and the diseases vaccinations are meant to prevent.