New Study Results on Autism! Toddler brain difference linked to autism - CNN.com

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Toddler brain difference linked to autism - CNN.com

(CNN)

-- The size of a specific part of the brain may help experts pinpoint when autism could first develop, University of North Carolina researchers report.

The amygdala helps individuals process faces and emotions.

Using MRI brain scans, researchers found that the area of the brain called the amygdala was, on average, 13 percent larger in young children with autism, compared with control group of children without autism. In the study, published in the latest Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers scanned 50 toddlers with autism and 33 children without autism at age 2 and again at age 4. The study adjusted for age, sex and IQ.
"We believe that children with autism have normal-sized brains at birth but at some point, in the latter part of the first year of life, it [the amygdala] begins to grow in kids with autism. And this study gives us insight inside the underlying brain mechanism so we can design more rational interventions," said lead study author Dr. Joseph Piven.
A normal-sized amygdala helps a person process faces and emotions, behavior commonly known as joint attention.

 

[suzybeezy]

I have a very close friend who's grandson was diagnosed with autism. I'm glad to hear they are making some progress with this disorder.

 

[RedLioness]

The brainicap issue.

-.- Hello ma'am. I am 23 but I was diagnosed with Autism and Asperger's when I was 21. As sort of a support group thingy, he said I grew up with it (the lack of social interaction, not talking, always playing by myself). I think it is a neurological disorder. Something wrong about the brain. The trouble with being special needs is the lack of independence (which one wants but one finds hard to get), it always seems like we have to rely on others around us to help us with things like cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, doing the chores, picking up after ourselves, completing the schoolwork, and possibly getting a job which may be more challenging if we were not blessed with a brain (like me) or we possess some kind of a learning disorder (again, like me). This may be called being handicapped or disabled. I would be the last person to know of course (the lack of brains you know). Well it is frustration if you don't want to be dependent (like me) and you want to have independence (like me) but your brain doesn't work with you to complete the task so desired.

I have a support group I go to every month that mom and dad take me to. Does your child have a support group? It is a place where people who are just like you can meet and discuss your brains (or the lack thereof).

I am a house mouse. These days I just hang out around the house...and I hang out...and I hang out. And when somebody wants to go and do something with me, they find out I am a very boring person with lack of excitement. Because I struggle with my brain (it is not there) on a daily basis so I first have to figure out how to do the thing before I accomplish it.

Have you ever heard about social security disability? That is what I am on.