Brain's Magnetic Fields Reveal Language Delays In Autism

[Guest guest]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081201081710.htm

 

Faint magnetic signals from brain activity in children with autism show that

those children process sound and language differently from non-autistic

children. Identifying and classifying these brain response patterns may allow

researchers to more accurately diagnose autism and possibly aid in developing

more effective treatments for the developmental disorder.

 

Timing appears to be crucial. " Children with autism respond a fraction of a

second more slowly than healthy children to vowel sounds and tones, " said study

leader , Ph.D., vice chair of radiology research and holder of

the Oberkircher Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Radiology at The Children's

Hospital of Philadelphia. used a technology called

magnetoencephalography (MEG), which detects magnetic fields in the brain, just

as electroencephalography (EEG) detects electrical fields.

presented his findings today at the annual meeting of the Radiological

Society of North America in Chicago. " The brain's electrical signals generate

tiny magnetic fields, which change with each sensation, and with communication

among different locations in the brain, " he added.

is working to develop " neural signatures " that can link recorded brain

activity to particular behaviors in children with autistic spectrum disorders

(ASDs), which are characterized by impaired development in communications and

social functioning. " Our hypothesis is that speech and other sounds come in too

fast for children with ASDs, and their difficulties in processing sound may

impair their language and communication skills, " said .

Physicians already use MEG to map the locations of abnormal brain activity in

epilepsy, but the technology used is one of the few MEG machines

available in a dedicated pediatric facility. In the current study, the

researchers evaluated 64 children aged six to 15 at The Children's Hospital of

Philadelphia. Thirty children had ASDs, the rest were age-matched, typically

developing control subjects.

The MEG machine has a helmet that surrounds the child's head. The researchers

presented a series of recorded beeps, vowels and sentences. As the child's brain

responded to each sound, noninvasive magnetic detectors in the machine analyzed

the brain's changing magnetic fields.

When sounds were presented, the MEG recorded a delay of 20 milliseconds (1/50 of

a second) in the brain's response for children with ASDs, when compared with

healthy control subjects. " This delay indicates that auditory processing is

abnormal in children with autism, and may lead to a cascade of delay and

overload in further processing of sound and speech, " said . " Further

research may shed light on how this delay in processing sounds may be related to

interconnections among parts of the brain. " Other testing, measuring a response

to mismatched or changed sounds, found longer delays, up to 50 milliseconds

(1/20 of a second).

Because autism disorders range across a spectrum of functional abilities,

explained , neural signatures based on brain responses may allow

clinicians to more accurately diagnose which subtype of ASD an individual

patient has. Such diagnoses may be possible at an earlier age if future studies

show that such signatures are detectable in infancy—at younger ages than in the

children involved in the current study. " Earlier diagnosis of ASDs may allow

clinicians to intervene earlier with possible treatments, " said .

Furthermore, added , if a patient's neural signature overlaps with that

found in another neurological condition, such as epilepsy or attention-deficit

hyperactivity disorder, for which a treatment exists, that patient may benefit

from such a treatment.

The National Institutes of Health, the Lurie Marks Family Foundation, and

the and Lurie Family Foundation provided funding support for

the study. Co-authors with were J. Edgar, Ph.D..; Deborah M.

Zarnow, M.D.; and E. Levy, M.D.; all of Children's Hospital.

 

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

 

" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport