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18 February 2014

He does not act the way we do

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.

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