Intense World Syndrome

I have been following updates in Neuroscience pretty closely lately. There are exciting developments and many times the general public does not gain access until much, much later. As a school psychologist who routinely evaluates children for Special Education under the category of Autism Spectrum Disorders, I have been asked many times by my friends what my "stance" is on vaccines.

For a long time I did not have a hard and fast answer. While I knew categorically that data had been falsified in the Wakefield study scandal (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136032/), I also knew that there were likely environmental toxins contributing to the alarming rise in prevalence rate. It was not until I began to look more closely at the specific research that I began to formulate a more cogent thought on the matter.

For the record, all 4 of my kids have been vaccinated, although there have been times that I have asked the doctor to alter the vaccine schedule slightly due to illness and whatnot. 

I hate going out on a limb and saying something alienating like...Autism Spectrum Disorder might be preventable and also reversible (with early intervention). I know, I know how it sounds to (crazy) and not only do I know that, I also hate admitting that I do not have all the answers. What I do know is that there are many pieces to this Autism puzzle about which are not usually talked.

This blog is the place where I will post an article, the first one being about the Intense World Syndrome.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2518049/

What is striking to me about this alternative hypothesis is that it addresses a possible fundamental misunderstanding about the reason for the characteristics of ASD. Markram proposes that these individuals are actually hyperfunctional and as a result of this high sensory sensitivity, they withdraw within themselves, eventually resulting in a lack of the higher order skills such as empathy and perspective-taking.

There are alot of reasons why I like this hypothesis, not only because it is so totally person-centered and strengths-based, but also because it makes a ton of logical sense. While sensory sensitivity/seeking has only recently been added to the definition of ASD in the DSM-5, I can say from professional experience that in the last 8 years as a school psychologist, I am not sure I have ever had a child with ASD who did not also have some type of sensory issue.

Anyway, for all those out there having trouble with re-framing this, CHANGE IS OK! That's what we tell the kids we love with ASD, right? We have to adapt too when the science backs it up. In my next post, I'll share more of the evidence for this theory and what some of the implications might be for prevention.

P.S. I realize that I went straight from vaccines to Intense World Syndrome, but I will return to this in a future post. More later...