Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
The authors of a new study, recently completed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), claim that their work will radically change the way that autism is viewed and treated by suggesting that predictability may help prevent or limit symptoms.
In the study, co-author Professor Henry Markram (himself the father of an autistic child) and his colleagues report that social and sensory overstimulation can drive autistic behavior, and that by presenting a child that with an enriched environment that is structured, safe, and tailored to his or her unique sensitivities, parents can help kept these behaviors at bay.
Professor Markram’s team exposed rats to a known autism risk factor, the anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug valproate, and raised them in a home environment that is predictable and offers little in the way of surprise, without being devoid of sensory or social engagement. They found that these rats did not develop fear, anxiety, or social withdrawal.
Diagnosing hyper-brain early could open up new treatment options
These observations support the somewhat unconventional view that the brains of autistic people are hyperfunctional, and that providing these patients with consistent and non-surprising surroundings could prevent such symptoms. They also claim that these results show that autistic brains are not necessarily damaged and in need of extensive stimulation.
In a statement, Markram called the valproate model used in the research “highly relevant for understanding autism, because children exposed to valproate in the womb have an increased chance of presenting autism after birth.” His team found that rodents who were exposed to the chemical compound early on in their embryonic development began to demonstrate behavioral, anatomical, and neurochemical abnormalities comparable to the traits of human autism.
“We were amazed to see that environments lacking predictability, even if enriched, favored the development of hyper-emotionality in rats exposed to the prenatal autism risk factor,” Markram added. The findings indicate that, at least in some individuals, non-predictable environments can lead to the development of an array of negative symptoms, including sensory abnormalities and social withdrawal.
What this means, according to the researchers, is that if brain hyper-function can be diagnosed shortly after birth, at least some of the negative effects associated with this trait can be combated by providing the child with a specialized environment that is safe, controlled, consistent, and only subject to change at a gradual pace set forth by the child.
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