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What If People With Autism Are Actually Hyperfunctional?

AGXStarseed

Well-Known Member
(Not written by me)


An unconventional theory for autism shows promise in a new study in rats

Most people who think about autism think of people who struggle or are inept in some ways, especially when it comes to social behaviors. But there’s growing evidence that the autistic brain may actually be more super-wired to detect and absorb cues from the outside world.

Now, a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience suggests that the brains of people with autism are actually hyperfunctional rather than stunted or impaired, and that if treated early in a very predictable environment, symptoms could diminish.

In 2007, researchers Kamila Markram, Henry Markram, and Tania Rinaldi developed an alternative theory for what autism is, called the “Intense World Syndrome.” They believe that autism is not some form of mental deficit, but that the brain is actually supercharged and hyperfunctional. This makes stimuli overwhelming to people with autism, causing them to socially and emotionally withdraw as a mode of self-protection.

In the new study, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), including Henry Markram and Kamila Markram, showed how autism might be treated following this theory.

The researchers took a group of rats and exposed them to a drug called valproate (VPA), which is a process commonly used to model autism in the rodents. The researchers then exposed the rats to three different environments. The first was a standard environment: a typical laboratory cage. The second was a unpredictable enriched environment, which had things like a running wheel, toys and places to hide. In this environment, the researchers would regularly clean the cages, change out the toys and reorganize the space. The third was a predictable enriched environment, which had stimuli like toys and a running wheel, but after every cleaning the cage remained the same and nothing was moved out of place.

The researchers found that rats exposed to VPA were more sensitive to their living environments compared to control rats. The VPA-exposed rats living in the predictable environment did not develop the same emotional behaviors like anxiety and fear that the VPA-exposed mice living in the unpredictable environment or the standard environment did. The researchers concluded that an unpredictable or impoverished environment exacerbates the autism-like symptoms in rats, but a very predictable environment can prevent these symptoms from developing.

Though the study is still preliminary and was done in rats and not humans, Kamila Markram says she thinks it does have implications for how children with autism might be treated in the future. “Many therapies do recognize that structure and predictability is important, but none of the approaches has put this at the center,” she says. “We say you have to put it at the center and you need to be addressing sensory overflow.”

In the ideal scenario, Markram says kids with autism could be diagnosed when they are very young and then raised in a very stable and predictable environment. “You would approach the child from the same direction, books are on the same shelf, toys are always in the same place,” she says.

Markam says that it’s also necessary to change the way people view the disorder as a whole. “It’s important to us that we move away from the autism as a deficit model. These children are hyperfunctional and they can’t bear their environment,” says Markan. “If you have that view, it changes the way you look at research. If you’re a parent, you’ll treat your child in a different way.”


SOURCE: What if People With Autism Are Actually Hyperfunctional?
RELATED: People with autism have 'supercharged' brains: Those with the condition are 'over-sensitive to the world - and not impaired' | Daily Mail Online
 
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This is interesting, and in a way i can see what they are saying. I'm either zeroed in on one thing or i'm hyper-aware and notice everything at once - which leads to overload quite often at work. I can see how, with the senses and emotional/sensory overload, autism can be viewed as a disorder of hyperfunction. But socially, i can only see deficits.
 
(Not written by me)


An unconventional theory for autism shows promise in a new study in rats

Most people who think about autism think of people who struggle or are inept in some ways, especially when it comes to social behaviors. But there’s growing evidence that the autistic brain may actually be more super-wired to detect and absorb cues from the outside world.

Now, a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience suggests that the brains of people with autism are actually hyperfunctional rather than stunted or impaired, and that if treated early in a very predictable environment, symptoms could diminish.

In 2007, researchers Kamila Markram, Henry Markram, and Tania Rinaldi developed an alternative theory for what autism is, called the “Intense World Syndrome.” They believe that autism is not some form of mental deficit, but that the brain is actually supercharged and hyperfunctional. This makes stimuli overwhelming to people with autism, causing them to socially and emotionally withdraw as a mode of self-protection.

In the new study, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), including Henry Markram and Kamila Markram, showed how autism might be treated following this theory.

The researchers took a group of rats and exposed them to a drug called valproate (VPA), which is a process commonly used to model autism in the rodents. The researchers then exposed the rats to three different environments. The first was a standard environment: a typical laboratory cage. The second was a unpredictable enriched environment, which had things like a running wheel, toys and places to hide. In this environment, the researchers would regularly clean the cages, change out the toys and reorganize the space. The third was a predictable enriched environment, which had stimuli like toys and a running wheel, but after every cleaning the cage remained the same and nothing was moved out of place.

The researchers found that rats exposed to VPA were more sensitive to their living environments compared to control rats. The VPA-exposed rats living in the predictable environment did not develop the same emotional behaviors like anxiety and fear that the VPA-exposed mice living in the unpredictable environment or the standard environment did. The researchers concluded that an unpredictable or impoverished environment exacerbates the autism-like symptoms in rats, but a very predictable environment can prevent these symptoms from developing.

Though the study is still preliminary and was done in rats and not humans, Kamila Markram says she thinks it does have implications for how children with autism might be treated in the future. “Many therapies do recognize that structure and predictability is important, but none of the approaches has put this at the center,” she says. “We say you have to put it at the center and you need to be addressing sensory overflow.”

In the ideal scenario, Markram says kids with autism could be diagnosed when they are very young and then raised in a very stable and predictable environment. “You would approach the child from the same direction, books are on the same shelf, toys are always in the same place,” she says.

Markam says that it’s also necessary to change the way people view the disorder as a whole. “It’s important to us that we move away from the autism as a deficit model. These children are hyperfunctional and they can’t bear their environment,” says Markan. “If you have that view, it changes the way you look at research. If you’re a parent, you’ll treat your child in a different way.”


SOURCE: What if People With Autism Are Actually Hyperfunctional?

I think that is the case for some of us on the spectrum. I suggest perhaps more so for Aspers, and even more pronounced with the individuals that are emotionally cool and controlled.
I have experienced the range of human emotion but am not considered to be warm and fluffy by anyone, ever.
For me the most common emotion is agitation/ frustration when a point that I am trying to make is not understood and the more I try to clarify the more obtuse I am perceived of being.
That is one of the reasons I enjoy this site, the Aspers can cut through, read between the lines and understand the snippets of thought that I can capture long enough to express, usually.
I have never thought myself disabled. I see the general public as disabled to some degree. I feel that we are super-abled. For example some folks that win a prize on a game show and start jumping around like excited chimps hooting and screeching, well to me it is an interesting example with human kinship to the other primates. I would simply take the prize and say thanks.
Further more the Aspers that have changed the human paradigm with their contributions seems way out of proportion to our number in the general population. Perhaps Aspers/AS is a step up the ladder.
I think our issue is nothing more than getting a grip on our own "emotional" incoherence.
What do you think?
 
I think that is the case for some of us on the spectrum. I suggest perhaps more so for Aspers, and even more pronounced with the individuals that are emotionally cool and controlled.
I have experienced the range of human emotion but am not considered to be warm and fluffy by anyone, ever.
For me the most common emotion is agitation/ frustration when a point that I am trying to make is not understood and the more I try to clarify the more obtuse I am perceived of being.
That is one of the reasons I enjoy this site, the Aspers can cut through, read between the lines and understand the snippets of thought that I can capture long enough to express, usually.
I have never thought myself disabled. I see the general public as disabled to some degree. I feel that we are super-abled. For example some folks that win a prize on a game show and start jumping around like excited chimps hooting and screeching, well to me it is an interesting example with human kinship to the other primates. I would simply take the prize and say thanks.
Further more the Aspers that have changed the human paradigm with their contributions seems way out of proportion to our number in the general population. Perhaps Aspers/AS is a step up the ladder.
I think our issue is nothing more than getting a grip on our own "emotional" incoherence.
What do you think?

These points you make are fantastic!
 
I would say, "of course!" I can't work a regular job because I can't deal with the restrictions on how I am supposed to work. If I have a task to finish I find I do at least at double speed, but I can't work like that for 8 hours. I'll do warp speed for a couple of hours, then need to move, go somewhere else and take a break.

Much of a task is performed in my head and that happens while cooking, brushing my teeth or at some other time that has nothing to do with office hours. So being super efficient at odd times gives me a lot of time for doing other things, again not compatible with 9-5.
 
The over-reaction to sensory input and testimonials from tons of people on the spectrum wasn't a clue? :neutral:
 
I will share this with some family who might need to see this. I find it interesting that they give Valproate to the rats to induce an Autistic type state. I need to do some research here because that is Depacon. If a person who has bipolar disorder which I have been diagnosed with, is treated with Depacon, which I have been, it might skew the results of tests done to find out if I am also Autistic. So I may have Autistic features as a side effect of taking anti-seizure medicine.

In the original study the call it Valproic Acid which is Depakote. I don't know if there is any difference. I never did well on Depakote.
 
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