Autism Explained: Simple New

Theory Links Confusing Array of

Symptoms

New theory may explain the complex set
of symptoms seen in autism.
People with autism often display a complex and
confusing range of symptoms, including
hypersensitivity to sound, problems interacting with
others and repetitive behaviours.
Scientist have long wondered what all these and
other, seemingly unrelated symptoms have in
common.
Now MIT researchers are testing a brand new
theory: that autistic children have difficulties
predicting what is going to happen next, and its
this problem that is at the root of autism (Sinha et
al., 2014).
Without the ability to predict simple events, to an
autistic child, life seems to happen randomly and
almost magically, with no rhyme or reason.
Professor Pawan Sinha, the lead author of the new
paper, explains:
If we were unable to habituate to stimuli, then the
world would become overwhelming very quickly.
Its like you cant escape this cacophony thats
falling on your ears or that youre observing.
From this point of view, the repetitive behaviours,
the preference for highly structured and predictable
environments may be coping strategies.
Professor Sinha continued:
The need for sameness is one of the most uniform
characteristics of autism.
Its a short step away from that description to think
that the need for sameness is another way of
saying that the child with autism needs a very
predictable setting.
At the moment, the treatments that have been
developed are driven by the end symptoms.
Were suggesting that the deeper problem is a
predictive impairment problem, so we should
directly address that ability.
Children with autism often have problems
understanding other peoples thoughts, motivations
and feelings.
This could be a result of failing to use past events
to predict future behaviour.
While other theories of autism tend to explain
individual symptoms, this theory has a broader
ambition: to bring the symptoms together.
To try and show their theory is correct, they are
already conducting experiments to test it out.
One study has already suggested that autistic
children fail to become habituated to sensory
stimuli, which is what the theory suggests.
Set against the deficits, the theory also predicts
that autistic children will have advantages when
rules rather than predictions are important.
Indeed, activities that draw on just those skills
like math, music and drawing are often found in
autistic children in abundance.
Dr. Leonard Rappaport, chief of the division of
developmental medicine at Boston Childrens
Hospital, thinks the new theory is:
a uniting concept that could lead us to new
approaches to understanding the etiology and
perhaps lead to completely new treatment
paradigms for this complex disorder.
This is not the first theory to explain the complex of
symptoms we see every day in our clinical
programs, but it seems to explain more of what we
see than other theories that explain individual
symptoms.