Autism's Affect on Neural Connections Established In the Brain

One of the most important things toddlers learn to do it to write. Letter writing can be a difficult task at fist for young children but becomes easier as their brains learn and make crucial connections. Sophia Vinci-Booher, a researcher from Indiana University recently gave a talk at Loyola University Chicago about this very topic. She explains that letter writing involves coordination between different parts of the brain. A very good example of this is is observed in the increased strength of brain connections after practicing writing tasks compared to before practicing writing tasks. In right handed adults, areas such as the left primary motor cortex (L-PMC) and left ventral premotor (L-PMv) were more active while preforming a writing task. While practicing writing children create and fortify important neural networks in order to learn. Moreover, it was shown that  right handed children show a decrease in activity in their right hemisphere while preforming the a letter writing task. This suggests that the brain begins to create neural networks important for letter writing as practice of this task continues.

However, could deficits in important connections like these be an early sign of childhood autism? A recent study from the Montreal Neurological Institute may point to this possibility. Researcher John Lewis and his team studied over 200 infants and attempted to find clues in brain connectivity that could indicate autism. They looked at the strength of connections between different brain regions in order to determine efficiency. In their longitudinal study they took a look at 6 to 24-month-old children and compared their white matter connectivity to that of an older sibling with autism. Their aim is to find clues of autism as early as possible so treatment can be started sooner. They found that neurological sings of autism could be present as early as six months of age. They found that areas with deficits could be important for touch, vision, and language processing. Clearly, signs of autism are present in young children and could be most notable during learning periods, but identifying the signs and beginning intervention early is crucial.

Citations:

John D. Lewis, et al. The Emergence of Network Inefficiencies in Infants With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 2017; 82 (3): 176 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.03.006

McGill University. "Origins of autism: Abnormalities in sensory processing at six months." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 August 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170829113830.htm>.

Vinci-Booher, Sophia A., and Karin H. James. “Neural substrates of sensorimotor processes: letter writing and letter perception.” Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 115, no. 1, 2015, pp. 1–4., doi:10.1152/jn.01042.2014.