Understanding how the differences in brain development in typically developing children compared to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is extremely important in helping with diagnoses and the unique prognosis of ASD in children. As we know there is not one straight path that ASD follows, it is unique for each individual. Understanding this can lead to greater sensitivity and more informed public awareness about individuals with ASD, specifically children and adolescents. The extremely sensitive period of brain maturation during the early stages of life is essential to understanding and development.
Dr. Martha Ann Bell's research focused on measuring inhibitory control in children by looking at their measured EEG power and if the relationship between the two could dictate children's academic skills. Bell's study focused exclusively on typically developing children. She found that a typically developing child's brain matures and develops in cycles, and children with higher levels of EEG power indicated a greater pre-frontal cortex maturation and inhibitory control. The child's verbal ability was positively correlated with higher levels of change in alpha power, and inhibitory control was positively correlated with academic skills like math and reading. Bell's study emphasized the significance of development in a typically developing child's brain during the early stages of life, and the influence of activity in the frontal lobe on future development and learning.
Dr. Martha Ann Bell's study struck a question about how frontal lobe maturation across childhood and adolescence differs in atypically developing children, specifically children with ASD. An article titled Age Differences and Brain Maturation Provide Insight into Heterogeneous Results in Autism Spectrum Disorder by O'Hearn and Lynn (2023) focused on analyzing different studies that looked into the relationships between age and its impact on behavior and brain function in ASD. The developmental trajectory in children and adolescents with ASD differs greatly when compared to typically developing peers, and this analytic article looked at studies that focused on executive function, social cognition, emotional regulation, and neuroimaging studies. Across several studies, executive functioning and social cognition results differed between children with ASD and typically developing children; children with ASD were performing lower than what is typically seen at their developmental age. There was one exception to the previous pattern of results. In O'Hearn et al.'s study, a working memory task was given to adults with ASD and adults with typical development. Their results found that adults with ASD were in line with typical development from childhood to adolescence into adulthood, and they actually performed better than adults with typical development when asked to count concentric squares. As this study noted, it is essential to represent and outline the strengths in neurodiverse populations to encourage the contribution and support of neurodiverse individuals. Conversely, several studies found that throughout adolescence, pre-teens and teenagers are at a significantly greater risk of experiencing mental health related stressors like anxiety and depression which can come from bullying in school and potentially lead to suicide attempts. It is vital that the transition from childhood to adolescence is studied extensively in order to combat and increase resource availability for the ASD community to lead to more positive adulthood outcomes and lifespan longevity.
Dr. Martha Ann Bell's study provided critical results about brain maturation and academic skills in children with typical development based on their inhibitory control and EEG power, but I feel that more studies of this caliber should be done to include children with atypical development and maybe even exclusively looking at children with ASD. As seen in O'Hearn and Lynn's study analysis, ASD prognosis is unique and has many differences when compared to typical development. ASD is ever changing throughout childhood to adolescence and into adulthood, so it is crucial to continue to conduct studies that include other populations of development in order to better psychological diagnostic criteria.
References
O'Hearn, K., & Lynn, A. (2023). Age differences and brain maturation provide insight into heterogeneous results in autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.957375
Whedon, Margaret, et al. “Relations between Frontal EEG Maturation and Inhibitory Control in Preschool in the Prediction of Children’s Early Academic Skills.” Brain and Cognition, vol. 146, Dec. 2020, p. 105636, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105636.
No comments:
Post a Comment