have son with features of autism, and the news article how the brain processes speech caught my eye. The latest research on autism is ties it to faulty parts of the brain, in layman’s terms, and ‘sensory imbalances’ (it means autistic people seem to have over- or under-sensitive senses of sound, sight, and touch).
But then there is research again showing how training and practice can change the brain – the most well known is probably one showing how taxi drivers have bigger hippocampus compared to others. This is the part of the brain that helps us navigate around a space.
The notion that autism is all faulty wiring in the brain implies that you can do nothing about ‘such children’, and this troubles me. While doctors and professionals use it to educate people that you should not blame autism on parents and faulty upbringing (which is good), it brands children who have difficulty communicating. It comforts parents with overwhelming guilt, but I am not sure how much it helps the children.
The fact is you can teach ‘autistic’ children. I am no expert on brains and the neural pathways of speech, but training (not just drugs) can change brains. Doctors acknowledge this, and parents and teachers of children with special needs should remember it.