He does not act the way we do
Dear Berna.
Hello! I have a seven
year-old boy, Daniel, who was diagnosed with autism the moment I gave birth to
him. Yes, I know that children with autism behave differently from normal
people. Daniel, unlike other kids, seem to be distant to me and to his
classmates. He prefers to be alone and often throws tantrums and frights
whenever I and his friends try to touch him. Despite all of those, what worries
me the most is that Daniel seems to be "heartless" and with that, I'm
referring to his emotionless look and acts as well as his seemingly loss of
empathy towards others. Is my child having other problems aside from autism? Like
personality disorders or some sort?
Sincerely yours,
Matilda
Dear Matilda,
Good day! Thank you for e-mailing
me your concern about your son, Daniel. I understand why you are so concerned
with your son since he is behaves quite differently from the way children of
his age do. Autism spectrum disorder or ASD has a wide sort of disorder ranging
from the profoundly mentally-retarded individuals up to the brilliant and
gifted individuals or savants. ASD affects about one in 166 children and is
occurs more often in boys than in girls in a 4:1 ratio (Hadjikhani, 2007). I assume you are already knowledgeable of the usual
behaviors of children suffering from autism spectrum disorder such as
communication and socialization problems, restricted and most of the time
unusual range of interests, as well as engagement in repetitive behaviors (Ruble
& Gallagher, 2004). However, I think the doctor of your child failed to
explain to you the many reasons why these communication and socialization
problems occur and how they are manifested physiologically in Daniel's body.
Indeed, there are many factors coming into possibilities as to why these
problems happen; neurotransmitters and brain activities being some of these
factors. However, let me tell you about one factor that could possibly be
influencing Daniel's "emotionless actions" and lack of emotional
engagement to others -- the mirror neurons.
Mirror neurons constitute a
group of neurons in the premotor cortex as well as the inferior parietal cortex
(Bolland, personal communication, 1 July 2008). These mirror neurons respond both
to situations in which a person (or any other living organism) witnesses or
sees someone doing something and when a person is actually doing the activity. For instance, if a child sees someone picking
up a ball, these mirror neurons are activated. When he himself picks up the
ball, these neurons are also activated. Viewing an example in a social context,
the mirror neurons of a person are activated whenever they see someone smiling
and whenever they themselves do the smiling (Bolland, personal communication, 1
July 2008). Now I think you are getting a hint of it -- the destruction or
defection of this mirror neuron system may cause inabilities for a person to
mirror behaviors done by others and this damage is evident in people with
various mental disorders. Indeed, one of them is the autism spectrum disorder.
Hadjikhani (2007) stated in his
article that individuals with autism may have impairments and dysfunctions in
the functioning of their mirror neuron system and perhaps amygdala which are
the primary physiological structures involved in the perception of others'
empathy and intentions and social cognition in general. Empathy or the
emotional engagement one has to other social beings primarily begins in the
ability to imitate one's behaviors and feelings in order for one to understand
them. Anticipating others' behaviors and intentions, involve mirroring what the
other person is thinking and putting it in one's one thinking (Hadjikhani,
2007). Due also to the damage of the mirror neuron system of your child,
Daniel, he is unable to mimic facial expressions such as smiling, crying,
smirking, and the many other facial expressions. We, humans, have an innate
predisposition to react emotionally to others' emotions and one way of doing
this is through the use of the different facial expressions. However, since
Daniel has dysfunctions in his mirror neurons, he is unable to mirror or mimic
the facial expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, etc. This is the reason
why he seems to have emotionless vibes and actions towards others.
Now maybe you are wondering what
would happen if certain techniques are done in order to heal Daniel's damaged
mirror neuron system. If Daniel undergoes certain advancements (which I bet
costs a lot), some of the symptoms of his autism could be alleviated (Ramachandran
& Oberman, 2006). Since mirror neurons are involved in socializing with
others, imitating facial expressions, empathizing with others, as well as
communicating properly, if the mirror neurons are treated, Daniel could somehow
behave normally with regards to other people.
Matilda, I hope my response is
of certain help to you and to Daniel. Knowing about Daniel only from your letter will not enable me to know whether he has other disorders. However, from what seems to be it, all symptoms you see from Daniel are characteristics of autistic individuals. We all know that Daniel as well as other
children experiencing the autism spectrum disorder do not behave normally as
what we expect from children of their age. Indeed, they are distant and somehow
lacking of emotions; however, do not forget that they are still human beings
who are in need of protection, understanding, and love especially from those
who they believe will always be there for them.
Senserely yours,
Bernadette
References:
Bollan, S. (1 July 2008). The mirror neuron
revolution: Explaining what makes humans social [Personal communication]. Retrieved
17 February 2014.
Hadjikhani, N. (2007). Mirror neuron system and
autism. Progrss in Autism Research, 151-166.
NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Ramachandran, V.S. & Oberman, L.M.
(2006). Broken mirrors: A theory of autism. Scientific
American, 62-69. USA: Scientific American, Inc.
Ruble, L. & Gallagher, T. (2004). Autism
spectrum disorders: Primer for parents and educators. MD: National Association
of School Psychologists.
Photo credits:
http://goodgreatexceptional.tumblr.com/post/65281698327/
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