But do they? Giacomo Rizzollati and colleagues (1992) conducted experiments on monkeys, recording signals from parts of the frontal lobes which are concerned with motor commands. The researcher found that there are cells that fire not only when the monkey performs certain specific movements but also when the monkey watches another monkey performing the same action. ‘Monkey-see monkey-do neurons’ Rizzollati terms these neurons mirror neurons (‘monkey-see monkey-do neurons’). T

Can’t start – can’t stop Another problem autistic individuals experience is ‘inertia’ (Dekker 1999) – difficulty in starting, stopping, planning and changing activities. Initiation difficulties are often physical: despite knowing what to do (and how to do it), they just cannot start doing it. One of the possible causes can be an inability to control their bodies or other movement impairments . We don’t even have proper control of our bodies. Both staying still and moving whe

Autistic people are said to be (severely) impaired in their ability to empathise with other people which is reflected in the ‘mind-blindness theory’ of autism (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, Frith 1985; Frith 2003). However, contrary to the belief of lack of emotional compassion in autism, autistic individuals may experience enhanced emotionality (along with enhanced perception) (Markram et al . 2007). There are different types of empathy: sensory empathy, emotional (affective) empathy

It is not as simple as ABC When we come across a behaviour that’s difficult, there’s a popular method that’s used to help parents and carers to analyse what’s happening and do something about it. You may have heard about it – or even used it. It’s called the ABC approach the idea of which is that you find a trigger for the behaviour ( A ntecedent), define the B ehaviour and provide the ‘ C onsequence’ (for example, ignore/ time out) for this (often deemed ‘inappropriate’) beh

Let’s start with linguistics: The way we label things around us means a great deal. Let’s look at the widely used terms in an ‘autistic way’, i.e., literally (without adding any personal connotation – neither positive, nor negative) – each word in this section has its dictionary meaning. - Autism Spectrum : Spectrum is defined as ‘the entire range of particular type of thing, arranged by degree or quality, etc.’; it is used to classify something in terms of positio

Thomas, a 12-year-old autistic boy has a long history of some features of anxiety and depression. For the past several months, he has been more anxious, sad, and easily overwhelmed. He seems irritable at home and school and cries often. He responds very slowly to the questions and often says "I don't know, I don't know," almost in an automatic way and he is now engaging in some repetitive hand movements which he had not done previously. He is no longer able to shower independ

Helen, an 11-year-old girl with autism, goes to mainstream school and does very well at all the subjects. But no one at school has ever heard her speak. She used to sit quietly in the classroom rocking her body and seems oblivious to everybody around her. However, her written work is always neat and correct. Her mother says she talks to her family at home, always whispering, but only if there is nobody else present there. If the family’s friends come to visit, she turns into

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome or Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder characterized by sudden, brief, repetitive, involuntary (unwanted) movements or vocal sounds called tics. They can range from mild to severe. Severe symptoms might significantly interfere with communication, daily activities and quality of life. Tics can be classified as: Simple tics: they involve a limited number of muscles. Complex tics: they involve several muscle groups. Motor tics in TS

A splinter skill or a learning style? One morning (not the best time for me – getting ready for my work), my autistic son (who had started saying his first words at the age of seven – a few months before that day) suddenly said, ‘The weather was stormy and the family decided to stay at home.’ - Where did you hear that? What are you talking about? I turned around to see that my boy was not talking to me, he was reading ! His school textbook was open but not at the page with pi