Therapy that teaches motor skills may help children with autism to perform daily tasks.
The purpose of this study was to see if sensori-motor skills affect whether or not preschool-aged children with autism can perform daily living skills. The authors assumed that children with autism would have weaker sensori-motor skills than other children. While this was true, they found that the sensori-motor skills varied quite a bit amongst their group of 35 children with autism. The children with autism had large delays in gross motor and fine motor skills compared to other children. The poor daily living skills in children with autism are caused, in part, by these delays in sensorimotor skills.
Twitter
Facebook
By Email
RSS Feed
Please comment on this autism topic.
Responding to neurofeedback
Nov 12, 2010 by AnonymousWe have used neurofeedback (NFB) for our Asperger son. I don't know how well it works for autistic people. For Asperger syndrome, it can work very well, but it's a long process.
We started the therapy when my son was 9 years old, having extreme difficulties at school because he couldn't cope with anything. His anxiety was so high even the NFB doctor thought it was remarkable. The initial assessment showed that my son had high delta-theta waves (associated with ADD-like attention span), low sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) waves (associated with sensory issues,fidgeting, tics, agitation, and anxiety), and high high-beta waves (associated with intense anxiety). This profile is pretty much exactly what all Asperger kids look like.
We liked the NFB approach because unlike virtually all other ASD treatments we tried or looked at, this was the first one that looked inside our son's brain to see what was going on. The assessment wasn't based on theory, observation, or cookie-cutter practice, but on the actual output from the kid's head.
The NFB treatment involved playing computer games via electrodes stuck to the scalp and ears. It sounds more fun than it is, because the games are very slow. We had to bribe my son to do the therapy. We are very tech-savvy, so we trained at the centre so that we could do the sessions at home (we live hours away from the clinic).We did the sessions every day so that we could see the results faster. We kept a log sheet of observations, hours of therapy, and game points, and included any observations from his teachers.
After 30 hours of treatment, he suddenly figured out how to control his high-beta waves. Where he used to get scores of 10, he could now get scores of 200, then 400, then 1000. He had no idea how he was controlling the levels, but he was doing it. Within a few days, we noticed that his anxiety was GONE. I mean GONE. Suddenly nothing bothered him anymore. He wasn't afraid of the dark, or of barking dogs, or of rain, or of traffic. He stopped fretting about death and getting older and started simply living.
We continued the therapy for another 30 hours and got his SMRs up. That's when he started eating a bunch of new foods and playing outside. He'd even ask to try out something new. However, the SMR's are the hardest wave to fix, because they're deep in the brain, and he didn't maintain the high SMR's for long.
The one we had the least success with was the delta-theta, which ironically is usually the easiest to treat. Oh well. So he's still a space cadet!
We wrapped up the therapy at 100 hours, very pleased with the results.
My son is now 14 and doing well. We've noticed in the ensuing years since doing his NFB that it's worthwhile to do tune-ups three to four times a year. Video games, sedentary activities, and long car drives all seem to push his brainwaves back into the old patterns. We can tell when this occurs because suddenly he can't cope with anything, he's screaming a lot, and the teachers are phoning us to ask what's going on. All we need to do is a week of NFB, a half-hour per day, and the problems disappear. We've now trained our son to do his own sessions, so it's very easy for us.
If you want to learn more about NFB, you need to do some reading first. The best book on the subject is one that's probably in your public library: A Symphony in the Brain. It explains how the brain works. There is a chapter on NFB near the end. Besides that, there are many books available discussing the applications for NFB treatment. It works so well for anxiety disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (which are all disorders in which the brainwaves get into bad patterns and get stuck there) that its popularity is growing. NFB is expensive. There are some people trying to develop simpler, more user-friendly technology, but the practitioners are used to the old systems. We have to wait for a younger generation of NFB doctors to move into the field to take it in new directions.
Essential Fatty Acids
Sep 24, 2006 by AnonymousEssential Fatty Acids
I could go on and on about essential fatty acids (EFAs). They are important. They are found in breast milk. Only recently are they being put in formula and only in the more expensive lipil formula. They are similar to the cod liver oil that our parents may have given us. There are plant sources of EFAs (i.e. flax) and animal sources (i.e. fish). Animal sources appear to be better absorbed and more effective than plant sources. There is a good and well thought out article on EFA's that can be found at PWS Playroom (http://www.pwsplayroom.com/efa.htm ).
These unsaturated fatty acids are easily used by your body to form the brain and the lipid layer around cells. Saturated fats (like butter) compete with unsaturated fats. There is some talk that ingestion of EFAs contributes to brain formation and intelligence. Have you heard about breast fed babies being smarter? If it is true, it is likely due to EFAs. Have you heard of fish being brain food? If this is true it is likely due to EFA's.
Check out the Cherab Foundation on EFAs (http://www.cherab.org/information/dietaryeffects/efabasics.html ). There is a lot of anecdotal evidence about fatty acids and language development. I found this story persuasive.
Finally, there is the role of these EFA's in metabolism. I haven't seen much discussion about this. I would welcome anyone's opinion as this is a stretch for me. But, there are a group of receptors called PPAR. They bind fatty acids and they are involved in numerous diseases including diabetes. Saturated fatty acids appear to bind them and initiate an inflammatory response that can have many bad downstream effects, such as heart disease. Unsaturated fatty acids compete for these receptors and have an anti-inflammatory effect. I am mulling this over...
[edit]
Sources
Nordic Naturals ProEFA. It can be found on http://www.speechville.com. You can order through the speechville site -- I know Kirkman labs and http://www.omega-direct.com handle this type. Other parents use the Natural Factors Rich Old Bend for Kid.
I have now switched to the Ultimate Omega formula. I am not convinced that we need more Omega-6's (present in the ProEFA blend) and would rather just supplement with the Omega-3's.
[edit]
Working them into your Diet
There is an interesting book called the Omega Diet that talks about oils. In my opinion, the book is a bit extreme, but makes really good points. I think that a diet high in flax oils and fish oils is good for most everyone.
I think that if you get into the groove it won't be so hard to incorporate. Maybe it will "work" and maybe it won't but probably you will all be healthier. There are many places to work in flax oil. There is a type of yummy bread made by Natural Ovens that has high levels of flax oils. They also make great (but expensive) snack bars. Plus, there are great frozen waffles with flax oil.
Fish can be eaten for fish oil and fish oil is pretty easy to take in capsule form. My whole family takes it. We call it "smart medicine."
The Omega Diet also mentions walnut oil and canola oil. I make my own salad dressings (oil and vinegar and spice) and switched from olive oil to walnut oil. It was pretty easy and tasty. I don't really bake, but keep thinking that bran muffins or banana nut bread made with walnut oil would probably be pretty tasty.
I am also a big honey person. When my kids want something sweet, I give them a teaspoonful of honey. They like it. Local honey is best if you can get it.
Also, this year we made the switch from regular potatoes to sweet potatoes. I am not sure what your guy would say about sweet potatoes, but they suit us well. It seems that you could do most anything with them that you could with real potatoes. Plus, they have the added benefit that you can add walnuts (and walnut oil??) and cinnamon and honey to them and call them dessert. :)
[edit]
Research
Nutr Health. 2004;18(1):3-27. Related Articles, Links
From superior adaptation and function to brain dysfunction--the neglect of epigenetic factors.
Saugstad LF.
Oslo Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience, Institute for Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway.
With optimal pregnancy conditions (natural, enriched diet which includes fish) African (Digo) infants are 3-4 weeks ahead of European/American infants in sensorimotor terms at birth, and during the first year. Infants of semi-aquatic sea-gypsies swim before they walk, and have superior visual acuity compared with us. With adverse pregnancy behaviour (fear of fat, a trend to dieting), neglecting the need for brain fat to secure normal brain development and function, we run a risk of dysfunction--death. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome victims have depressed birth weight, lower levels of marine fat in brainstem than controls, and >80 suffer multiple hypoxic episodes prior to death. Depressed birth weight (more than 10% below mean) is seen in learning and behaviour disorders, and a trend towards weights of less than 3kg is increasing, which supports a rise in antenatal sub optimality. Given marine fat deficiency in pregnancy and infancy, neurons starved for fuel could delay myelination and maturation in the latest developed Frontal Lobes. The phylogenetic oldest Lateral Frontal Lobe System (feed-back mechanism etc.) derived from olfactory bulb-amygdala, which crosses in Anterior Commisure is probably spared, while the Medial Frontal Lobe System derived from Hippocampus-Cingulum and crosses in Corpus Callosum (delayed response task) is most likely affected. The rise in infantile autism (intact vision and hearing) with deficit in delayed response task only, could suggest a deficit in the Medial Frontal Lobe System. The human species is unique; 70% of total energy to the foetus goes to development of the brain, which mainly consists of marine fat. It undergoes pervasive regressive events, before birth, in infancy and at puberty. Minimal retraction of neuronal arborisation is advantageous. Attributable to adverse pregnancy childrearing practice, excessive retraction is likely prenatally and in infancy. Pubertal age affects the fundamental property of nervous tissue, excitability: excessive excitatory drive is seen in early, and a deficiency in late puberty. It is postulated that with adequate marine fat, there is probably no risk of psychopathology at the extremes, whereas a deficiency could lead to paroxysmal (subcortical) dysfunction in early puberty, and breakdown of cortical circuitry and cognitive dysfunctions in late puberty. The post-pubertal psychoses, schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis at the extremes of the pubertal age continuum, with contrasting excitability and biological treatment, are probably the result of continuous dietary deficiency, which has inactivated the expression of genes for myelin development and oligodendrocyte-related genes in their production of myelin. The beneficial effect of marine fat in both disorders, in other CNS disorders as well as in developmental dyslexia (DD) and ADHD among others, supports our usual diet is persistently deficient. We have neglected the similarity of our great brain to other mammals, and our marine heritage. Given the amount of marine fat needed to secure normal brain development and function is not known, nor the present dietary level, it seems unduly conjectural to postulate that a dietary deficiency in marine fat is causing brain dysfunction and death. However, all observations point in the same direction: our diet focusing on protein mainly, is deficient, the deficiency is most pronounced in maternal nutrition and in infancy.
Retrieved from "http://www.pwsnotes.org/Essential_Fatty_Acids"