New Study Says Brains of Autistic Persons ‘Organized Differently’

According to a new study by scientists at the University of Montreal, the brains of autistic persons are “organized differently”, with the parts that process visual information highly developed. Other areas of the brain are “less developed,” including those which deal with decision-making and planning. The research suggests why some autistic persons (my son included) excel at certain kinds of visual tasks, even while they have challenges in other areas, such as reading the expressions on other people’s faces.

As the BBC quotes Dr Laurent Mottron from the University of Montreal:

“For example, this may show a means to help people to literacy in a much more natural way than the usual methods of helping autistic people.”

“The natural tendency is to think that autism is a form of disorganisation. Here, what we see is that it is a reorganisation of the brain.”

From the time he was a toddler, teachers and therapists quickly labeled my son Charlie a “visual learner.” He has always had a strong visual memory, especially for colors and shapes. Though Charlie really struggles to read — somehow identifying the letters of the alphabet has always been very difficult for him — he’s very good at doing things like putting together jigsaw puzzles. At school, he’s shown an expected ability to assemble things like sprinkler heads. When we’re out driving, Charlie is always carefully scanning the roads and, at times, has reminded his direction-impaired mother that she’s driving the wrong way.

Says Carol Povey of the National Autistic Society about Dr. Mottron’s study in the BBC:

“This study is interesting as it begins to demonstrate why people with autism often show a strong single channel for focus and attention.

“Some adults with autism develop their own ways of coping with this experience, some seek out calm and quiet places, whilst others find creative outlets, like art, can help them both process the information as well as give others an insight into how they see the world.

“The more insight we have into the way autism affects sensory processing, the more people with autism, their families and professionals can develop strategies to make daily life easier.”

Regarding Charlie’s ongoing struggle to read: I often feel that we just have not come upon the right method (and many have been tried). Studies like Dr. Mottron’s make me suspect that we may have been going about teaching Charlie to read in quite the wrong way, by having him match flashcards of pictures to flashcards of words or trying to teach him phonics. As it’s Autism Awareness Month, when many are calling for more understanding about autism and autistic persons, Dr. Mottron’s research is especially good to learn about. Such research offers new understanding about how autistic persons perceive and understand the world, a very welcome help to parents like me who seek always to better support our children.

Dr. Mottron is known for his research about intelligence and perception in autistic persons.

The study is published in the journal Human Brain Mapping.

Previous Care2 Coverage

Today is World Autism Awareness Day

Autism Awareness Month and the Needs of Autistic Adults

Photo of an autistic brain by Tosaka [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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jane r.

8:24AM PDT on Jun 14, 2011

Interesting

send a green star

Gemma M.

4:39PM PDT on Apr 7, 2011

Very interesting research. I hope it leads to new and better lerning methods for autistic people (I'm with Lindsey DTSW about the use of the word).
Rob and Jay B., reading involves more than visual activity.

Thomas Lee B.

7:22PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

I have Asperger's syndrome. From early childhood, one of my mother's great frustrations was getting me to do anything BUT read. My worst enemy once admitted he could not fault my command of written English.

Though I have the usual Aspie difficulty in reading human facial expressions and body language, I read animals' like my favorite books. (Most of my favorite books are about animals.) To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only a half dozen or so practicing deer whisperers in the United States. I know a family of whitetails--mother, daughter, and granddaughter--who kiss me every time we meet. I can hardly wait for their home to open for the summer. Sugar, the grandma, will be waiting for me right inside the gate.

Incidentally, I can't read the labels on the diagram either. Lyn Redbird, are you sure that's Chinese and not Japanese? Why is something produced in Montreal labeled that way?

6:00PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Adam, since the Gerson therapy has no scientific basis, I rather think it won't have any effect on autism.

Lin M.

5:27PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

enjoyed reading comments

Marilyn L.

4:06PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Interesting article. The more I learn from you Kristina the more I realize there is much, much more that science is going to learn/discover about this condition.

Adam K.

3:38PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Put them all through the Gerson juice therapy.

John D.

12:37PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Is anything being done to find out why there has been such an increase in autism? I think it is more than that autism is being better diagnosed. We keep talking about being a healthier society but it seems more and more people are being diagnosed with more and more conditions.

May H.

11:31AM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Grace A.

9:46AM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is a freak to be persecuted for craziness--like hallucinating--how can there be anything to these strange experiences the one-eyed man reports that no one can share?