Brain's Magnetic Fields Reveal Language Delays in Autism
Posted on: Sunday, 30 November 2008, 23:01 CST
Timing appears to be crucial. "Children with autism respond a fraction of
a second more slowly than healthy children to vowel sounds and tones," said
study leader
Roberts presented his findings today at the annual meeting of the
Radiological Society of
Roberts is working to develop "neural signatures" that can link recorded brain activity to particular behaviors in children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), which are characterized by impaired development in communications and social functioning. "Our hypothesis is that speech and other sounds come in too fast for children with ASDs, and their difficulties in processing sound may impair their language and communication skills," said Roberts.
Physicians already use MEG to map the locations of abnormal brain activity
in epilepsy, but the technology Roberts used is one of the few MEG machines
available in a dedicated pediatric facility. In the current study, the
researchers evaluated 64 children aged six to 15 at The Children's Hospital of
The MEG machine has a helmet that surrounds the child's head. The researchers presented a series of recorded beeps, vowels and sentences. As the child's brain responded to each sound, noninvasive magnetic detectors in the machine analyzed the brain's changing magnetic fields.
When sounds were presented, the MEG recorded a delay of 20 milliseconds (1/50 of a second) in the brain's response for children with ASDs, when compared with healthy control subjects. "This delay indicates that auditory processing is abnormal in children with autism, and may lead to a cascade of delay and overload in further processing of sound and speech," said Roberts. "Further research may shed light on how this delay in processing sounds may be related to interconnections among parts of the brain." Other testing, measuring a response to mismatched or changed sounds, found longer delays, up to 50 milliseconds (1/20 of a second).
Because autism disorders range across a spectrum of functional abilities, explained Roberts, neural signatures based on brain responses may allow clinicians to more accurately diagnose which subtype of ASD an individual patient has. Such diagnoses may be possible at an earlier age if future studies show that such signatures are detectable in infancy-at younger ages than in the children involved in the current study. "Earlier diagnosis of ASDs may allow clinicians to intervene earlier with possible treatments," said Roberts.
Furthermore, added Roberts, if a patient's neural signature overlaps with that found in another neurological condition, such as epilepsy or attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder, for which a treatment exists, that patient may benefit from such a treatment.
The National Institutes of Health, the Nancy Lurie Marks Family
Foundation, and the Jeffrey and Christina Lurie Family Foundation provided
funding support for the study. Co-authors with Roberts were
About The Children's Hospital of
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SOURCE The Children's Hospital of
Source: PR Newswire
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