[Fwd: Researcher pinpoints autistic behavior]

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**LI researcher pinpoints autistic behavior**

BY DELTHIA RICKS |delthia.ricks@...

<mailto:delthia.ricks@... & subject=li%20researcher%20pinpoints%20autistic\

%20behavior>

May 28, 2008

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/wednesday/longisland/ny-l\

iauti255704570may28,0,7359108.story

A Long Island researcher has pinpointed for the first time brain

regions in children with autism linked to " ritualistic repetitive

behavior, " the insatiable desire to rock back and forth for hours or

tirelessly march in place.

Collaborating with investigators at Duke University and the

University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Dr. Shafritz, an

assistant professor of psychology at Hofstra University, unmasked

brain regions in children with autism typified by reduced neural

activity. In a series of high-tech mapping studies, he compared brain

images of children with autism to those of neurologically normal

youngsters.

Repetitive behavior is one of autism's core traits and has driven

some parents to extremes as they try to distract a child to engage in

other activities.

Shafritz and colleagues used a form of magnetic resonance imaging -

MRI - to explore sites in the brain. They report their findings in

the current issue of Biological Psychiatry.

Mapping the brain constitutes a journey into the inner labyrinths of

a 3-pound cosmos where countless frontiers have yet to be explored.

In children with autism, Shafritz found deficits in specific regions

of the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of gray matter linked to all

higher human functions, including repetitive behavior. He also mapped

deficits in the basal ganglia, a region deep below the cerebral

hemispheres.

" We like to think about the research process as discovering clues

why people engage in certain behaviors, " Shafritz said last week. " We

were able to identify a series of brain regions that showed diminished

activity when people were asked to alter certain behaviors, and were

not able to do so. "

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is rapidly becoming a

major public policy issue. Federal health officials estimate it

affects 1 in every 150 children, impacting not only individual

families but communities. School systems lack a sufficient number of

appropriately trained teachers; social services departments are

overwhelmed by parents in need of support and respite care.

Amid social concerns are the plodding attempts to understand the

disorder's basic biology. Some scientists are scanning the human

genome in search of suspect DNA. Others like Shafritz, are exploring

the geography of the brain.

Carr, a psychology professor at Stony Brook University, said

the Shafritz discovery is important because it helps demystify

repetitive behavior.

" Repetitive behavior is sometimes called self-stimulatory behavior.

A very common form of it is body rocking, a child will do it for

hours, " Carr said. " Another child may wave his or her hands back and

forth in front of their eyes. This is very common and it's called

hand-flapping. They extend their arms forward and wave their hands in

front of them. It's like a light show.

" Some kids will take 100 crayons and line them up over and over. If

you move one of the crayons they get very upset. It might lead to a

tantrum, a major outburst of problem behavior.

Even though the brain mapping revealed sites associated with

repetitious behavior, Shafritz emphasized these areas are not

associated with injurious acts, which may occur as a result of

dysfunctions elsewhere in the brain. Some children repeatedly slam

their heads against a wall and indulge in other self-injurious

behavior.

Still, Shafritz found a relationship between the newly identified

brain areas and overlapping regions linked to schizophrenia,

obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder.

Dr. Anil Malhotra, director of psychiatric research at Zucker

Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, said he is not surprised. He, too, is

studying links between autism and schizophrenia, and autism and

obsessive compulsive disorder.

" This is an area of great interest, " Malhotra said, adding that

autism and schizophrenia are related because both disorders are

marked by problems with social interaction.

" We also see an overlap between and

autism, " Malhotra said.