THE NEUROLOGY OF ASD Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D. www.texasautism.org - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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THE NEUROLOGY OF ASD Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D. www.texasautism.org - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sep 07, 2023 169 likes •1.14k views

THE NEUROLOGY OF ASD Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D. www.texasautism.org NOT ALL SLIDES ARE IN YOUR HANDOUTS Anna Facebook, 2016 Austin wrote: I wish that they knew that I am autistic. I wish that my teacher knew that I need help on a lot of

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THE NEUROLOGY OF ASD

Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D. www.texasautism.org

NOT ALL SLIDES ARE IN YOUR HANDOUTS

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Anna

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Facebook, 2016

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Austin wrote:

I wish that they knew that I am autistic. I wish that my teacher knew that I need help

  • n a lot of things like my handwriting. I wish

that my teacher knew that I have a depressed life sometimes. I wish my teacher knew that I am not being defiant. I am

  • verwhelmed, shutting down. I wish that my

teacher knew that I am very good at bottling up anger and having outbursts.

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My Credo

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My Credo

If you can’t explain it to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself. Albert Einstein

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ASD IS A HETEROGENEOUS DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER

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Zeliadt, 2017

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REINFORCEMENT

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Reinforcement

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Reinforcement

  • Reward center in

the brain: mesocorticolimbic

  • r mesolimbic

system

Kohls et al., 2013; Scott-Vanzeeland et al., 2010

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Reinforcement

  • Brain activity

associated with token reinforcement

Kohls et al., 2013; Scott-Vanzeeland et al., 2010

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Reinforcement

  • Brain activity

associated with social reinforcement

TD ASD

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THE BEST REINFORCER …

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Special Interests

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Reinforcement

Social Tangible Special Interest

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Reinforcement

Social Special Interest

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Reinforcement

Special Interest Social

Pairing = Rewiring

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REGULATION

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Physical Aggression

Mazurek, M. O., Kanne, S. M., & Wodka, E. L. (2013). Physical aggression in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(3), 455-465.

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Regulation

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Regulation Challenges

  • Over 50% experience self-regulation challenges
  • Difficulties
  • Recognizing emotions in self
  • Difficulty matching emotions to events
  • Staying calm or calming down when upset or overwhelmed
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Individuals with ASD process small changes – such as a change in the schedule -- similar to the way another person would process a major change – such as being fired from a job (Gomot & Wicker, 2012).

Regulation/Change

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Self-Regulation - Underactivity

  • The yellow areas represent a composite of fMRI scans showing the areas of

the prefrontal cortexes that are significantly less active in people with autism during emotion regulation.

Richey et al., 2015

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Brain Stem Volume

Lundwell et al., 2017

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Reactive Aggression

  • Not planned in advance
  • Occurs because the

individual does not have the skills to problem solve, recognize feelings in self, match feelings, to event, and calm self

Farmer et al., 2014

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Amygdala

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Regulation: Amygdala

  • Detects danger
  • Produces stress, fear,

anxiety

  • Related to eye contact

and emotion recognition

  • Key in behaviors, such

as anxiety, meltdowns and aggression

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LEARNING

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Learning

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Visual and Auditory Processing

NT Brain Autism Brain

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Brains of Individuals with ASD are 40% More Active than Those of NTs

Temple Grandin’s brain Pérez Velázquez & Galán 20

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IMPLICIT LEARNING

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Implicit Learning

  • Learning without trying to do so
  • “Just picking it up”
  • “Automatically getting it”
  • “I don’t know how I learned it – I just did”

Schipul & Just, 2016

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Implicit Learning

Social Interaction Language

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Implicit Learning

  • Typically relies on the the different parts of the brain

working together

  • This is known as integration

Schipul & Just, 2016

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Implicit Learning

  • Individuals with ASD have less and different integration

across brain regions

Schipul & Just, 2016

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DOES THIS REALLY MEAN ANYTHING IN REAL LIFE?

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Implicit Learning

  • So …..
  • Individuals with ASD may require direct instruction on

tasks that are implicitly learned and may take a longer time to learn them

Schipul & Just, 2016

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Rote Memory/Comprehension

Just et al. 2004

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SENSORY

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Sensory

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PEOPLE WITH AUTISM ARE INUNDATED WITH A DELUGE OF SENSORY INFORMATION THAT CAN TURN EVERYDAY ENVIRONMENTS INTO DISTRESSING EXPERIENCES

Lurie, 2015

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THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

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Sensory: Auditory

  • For those with

ASD, the brain regions that process emotions react more to noise than those who are TD

ASD ASD Green et al., 2013 TD ASD

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Sensory: Auditory and Tactile

Hyperresponsivity to mildly aversive tactile and auditory stimuli, particularly when multiple modalities presented simultaneously.

Green et al., 2015

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GABA: Differences in Individuals with ASD

  • An inhibitory

neurotransmitter

  • Stops brain cells from

acting in response to information they receive from the senses

  • Enables the brain to

process digestible pieces of information rather than try to take in everything at once

Robertson et al., 2015

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MOTOR

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Motor

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Motor

Mostofsky et al. 2009

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Motor

  • Difference and delayed acquisition of gestures
  • Key in socialization and communication
  • Difficulty shifting executing motor actions, including those

that should be automatic

  • Delays in speech production
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Motor - Handwriting

  • Alignment, formation, size, and spacing significantly

different than in same age peers

  • No significant difference in these handwriting factors

across age

  • IF YOU WANT THE STUDENT/CHILD TO SHOW YOU

WHAT SHE KNOWS, DO NOT PUT A PENCIL IN HER HAND!

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SOCIAL/ COMMUNICATION

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Social/Communication

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Whole Brain Structure Differences: Areas of the Social/Communication Brain

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Social Communication: Language Differences

Herringshaw et al., 2016

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Social Communication: Language Differences

Herringshaw et al., 2016

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Sound More Competent Than They Are

  • Expressive language is most often more

advanced than receptive language.

  • Expressive language in children with

ASD, however, DOES NOT EQUAL comprehension.

  • Many children with AS will say

something without knowing what it means.

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Social Perception

Björnsdotter et al., 2016

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Social/Communication: Superior Temporal Sulcus

  • Underactive
  • Eye gaze
  • Understanding

facial expressions and body movements

  • Understanding the

interactions of two people

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Social/Communication: Superior Temporal Sulcus

  • Determining

appropriateness or inappropriateness

  • Using language to

explain or ask about interactions

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Social/Communication: Superior Temporal Sulcus

  • Generalization of

social interactions

  • Flexible thought
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Social/Communication

  • Individuals with ASD

process faces using that same areas that typically process

  • bjects

Courchesne & Pierce, 2005

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PSEUDO-LOGIC

From Facebook

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Pseudo-logic (and Implicit Learning)

  • Is extremely logical, but the logic is very unique based on

that student’s perspective

  • Is often misunderstood
  • Assumes he is right
  • Does not ask questions
  • Assumes his logic is the same as others
  • May be perceived as argumentative
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LITERALNESS

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Literal Approach to Life

  • People say exactly what they mean
  • People mean exactly what they say
  • There is no need to look for other meanings
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Literalness

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Literalness

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Literalness

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Literalness

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Literalness

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Literalness

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THEORY OF MIND

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After lunch today, I had trouble concentrating because this kid kept tapping his pencil. I told him to stop but he just looked at me and kept

  • tapping. He continued to

tap his pencil even after the teacher told him to

  • stop. When I couldn't’t

stand the noise another second, I grabbed his pencil and broke it. It isn’t fair that I’m the one in trouble now. This is Asperger Syndrome.

Theory of Mind

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Theory of Mind: Part I

  • Detecting mental

states through immediately available

  • bservable information

(i.e., eye gaze, body posture, gestures)

Sabbagh, 2004

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Theory of Mind: Part II

  • Understanding the

perspective, thoughts, feelings of others

  • Predicting what others

will do

  • Understanding what

will happen next

Sabbagh, 2004

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CENTRAL COHERENCE

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Central Coherence

  • Seeing the forest and

the trees

  • Understanding the big

ideas and the details

  • Understanding what

is important and important in any situation

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Central Coherence

  • When learning this

information, what is important?

  • If you have good central

coherence, you will memorize the names that match to the parts.

  • If you do not, you memorize

the words in order.

  • Or memorize the colors.

Sondra

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WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE FOR TASKS?

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WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE FOR INTERACTIONS AND EMOTIONS?

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PROBLEM SOLVING

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Problem Solving

Channon, 2004

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Problem-Solving Is Not Related to IQ

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Problem Solving

  • “One way of viewing a problem”
  • Sees facts instead of a whole
  • Problems with cause and effect
  • Does not see problems as having more than one option
  • Stuck thinking
  • Problem solving is often literal
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All Areas of Functioning are Impacted

  • According to Nancy

Minshew, a specialist in psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine: “… you cannot compartmentalize ASD. They are [sic] much more complex.”