Neurological origin of autism?

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Because it is a developmental disorder which can be traced back VERY early in childhood. My suspicion is that during development, the cellular signals of growth that instruct how neurons form connections with each other, go astray.The result is that the axons migrate down different chemical gradients and attach to other neurons at innapropriate sites. This is the "hard wiring" of the brain. Since the connections are different, the interpretaion of incoming information will not be the same as for N/Ts. The result is miscommunication and misunderstandings. Any attempt to change this must likely fail, as it is heretofar impossible to alter the wiring of the brain without causing catastrophic damage. As a result, AS is something you are born with: differences between AS individuals and normal individuals are core differences: a cure for AS is not realistically possible.

The way I explain Apsperger's to folks who are not familiar with it is about like this:
"You've heard the term 'Having a screw loose upstairs?' - Well, there are quite a few screws, and maybe two dozen in the area that can cause Autism. If most of them are loose, we get a person with full-blown Autism, almost unable to communicate. If around half are loose, the brain can work around that, but with difficulties we call Asperger's. This comes in many flavours, depending not just on how many screws are loose, but on which ones. Sometimes the parts of the brain that are sidelined by missing connections hook up to produce a great talent, that may or may not be able to express itself outwardly in a way others can appreciate."

For techies, I often throw in the story about the farmer who bought a new TV set, and then brought it in for repair. "I tried to see if there was anything wrong with it before I hauled it in, but nothing was burnt; I just tightened up the loose screws." The service guy realizes that the "loose screws" in this case were the adjustable components put into each section of the analog circuitry to compensate for the inaccuracy of the other parts, bringing the performance back in line. By "tightening them up" the customer has turned his set into a big combination lock - until most of the numbers are right, nothing will work.

It took me over 60 years, with 20 in "recovery" programs for dysfunctional families, and five of knowing I had AS before I finally stopped trying to see other people's logic. What they often have is some hard-wiring in the old brain for programming, and a bit of rationalizing for veneer, but no appreciation of reason at all.

Autism is being increasingly associated with the way your axons are wired to your neurons. These connections are mainly affected by your genes, but also a lot by your environment (experiences, learning, etc.).

On a neurotypical, axons are wired, on average, on larger distances inside your brain. Thus, NTs have the same amount of neurons, and even the same amount of axons, but the amount of long axons that connect these neurons with farther apart parts of their brains is bigger.

On the other hand, NT have fewer axons connecting locally same parts of the brain, thus they have their individual parts of the brain less connected, but more connections between different parts further apart.

This is shown on scanners as less electrical activity between the two brain lobes.

I suggest you read this article for further information:

http://blog.autismspeaks.org/2010/11/11 ... nnections/

This article gives new hope because axons can be created all along your life.

I find this topic to be very interesting, as there are no etched-in-stone causes, or known neurophysical causes of A.S. I would like to pose the questio, how many of you all had mothers who used drugs while pregnant with you, and/or fathers who used drugs pre-conception?
I had both, my father was a party animal, and I definitely was high in the womb as much as or more than I was sober.
It is fortunate that this forum is a pretty safe environment for people to let their guard down and give an honest answer, due to the feeling of similarity among us who share the same condition, and the anonymity of being 'just another screen name'.

I'm not saying prenatal drug use is the cause of autism or A.S. , but more of a contributing factor along the same lines as having a parent/parents who fall within the spectrum of autism,
or any other factor which may contribute.

I'm just curious to see how many share this same background trait, as drug use and developmental disabilities seem to be easily connected.

I'm just curious to see how many share this same background trait, as drug use and developmental disabilities seem to be easily connected.[/quote]

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My parents were occasional social drinkers, with a limit of two. No "drugs" except for anaesthesia during delivery. My father and sister are NT, mother and I AS.

No drugs, or alcohol for me or my son (or my wife)

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... -new-study

Please keep in mind I haven't read the whole thread.

Much of the neurological nature of the human condition is genetically controlled. We already know Asperger's is an inherited condition. From John Elder Robison's blog, there is evidence that De novo mutations, are more common in lower functioning ASD people than in the higher functioning Aspies, and environmental and epigenetic factors contribute much to these mutations. Interestingly, higher functioning people who are successful in life not only seem to need opportunities and support, but also seem more likely to have genes for "intelligence" and "creativity".

It's commonly reported that Aspies have a maturity several years behind NTs. Also some parents report a form of "recessive" autism that occurs at age 2-3 after a period of normal development. I suggest that at some point, wether before or after birth, the development of the brain slows or stops or changes, at least for a limited amount of time. If it picks up again it is then several years behind an NT's development.

Neurons and higher structure also communicate differently in the brains of ASD people compared to NTs. Folding Architecture (the wrinkles in the brain surface) probably develops differently.

Some Aspies and Auties have experienced developmental probmens in-utero, or traumatic births. Co-ordinators and counselors I have spoken to report that many little children with ASD they have been able to observe tend to show behaviour suggestive of a trauma response or experience. This could be a misinterpretation of the condition though (does trauma occur and cause behaviour that leads to development that creates or augments symptoms of Autism, or does Autism and neurological development already in place create behaviour that can be interpreted as trauma response).

Specific parts of the brain control the processing and interpretation and filtering of sensory signals, how they are combined and separated, presented to the consciousness, and how higher meaning is interpreted from them. "miswiring" in these areas may create synasthesia and the sensory sensitivities Aspies have.

Aspies, despite a higher IQ, have difficulties with naturally and subconsciously processing emotional information and social cues and meanings, as NTs tend to do. I have read material suggesting that in NTs it's the limbic system that does the natural or subconscious processing described. Aspies may have developmental deficiencies in the parts of the limbic system that do this, and are forced to rely on the higher cortical functions (prefrontal cortex), which are (semi-)conscious and slower. However, this idea assumes such processing occurs in the limbic system in the first place. Also, Aspie women (as a group) rate higher on empathy tests, so their limbic systems are somewhat different? Is a different gene influence present? Or is the limbic system theory all wrong?

There is another possibility:
Research from the last few years show that between 10% and 22% of women and men (in general) have unusual neurological differences, compared to the Majority of women and men (in general). The neurology is best described as "mixed gender": whereas the Majority have brains that are all-male or all-female, and match their identity/body gender, this 10-22% at least have neurology that mixes male and female brain structure.
I point out this because some evidence-based studies show higher average rates of male hormones in-utero with many ASD children, and women with ASD have higher average levels of natural testosterone in their brains compared to NTs.
If neurological structuring and architecture of Aspies were examined and measured for gender-development, would they be found to be all one gender, or mixed-gender? If we have higher rates of mixed gender neurology compared to the general population, what does that say about the origin of our neurology? It's known we have higher rates of "ambi-sexuality" and sexual-diversity, is there a link to neurology?

A quick skim of neurological studys of autism show things that probably invalidate the "gender neurodiversity" argument I put forward, as they seem present regardless of brain structure or gender.

Yet gender neurodiversity is likely still present in the brains of some autistic people, just not as an origin of autism.