One-fiftieth of a second
November 30, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Autistic children responded to sounds one-fiftieth of a second slower than a group of non-autistic children in research conducted at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 64 autistic children aged 6 to 15 listened to a series of rapid beeps through headphones while wearing a helmet-like device. The device recorded their brain’s response to the sounds and their brain waves were then compared with responses in a group of non-autistic children. From the Associated Press via First Coast News:
“We tend to speak at four syllables per second,” said Timothy Roberts, the study’s lead author and the hospital’s vice chairman of research. If an autistic brain “is slow in processing a change in a syllable … it could easily get to the point of being overloaded.”
Researchers now need to test these preliminary findings on younger children, and hope that their technique—-which use noninvasive technology called magnetoencephalography (MEG)—might be used to diagnosed children as young as 1 with autism. The results of the study will be reported tomorrow at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.
Other methods currently being developed to diagnose autism in very young (1 year and under) children involve studying babies’ eye movements and eye tracking; looking at whether a toddler focuses on another person’s mouth and eyes, and assymetry in infants.
Auditory processing delay is something that Charlie has had all along. When he was a year and two years old, I wasn’t yet able to understand how not being able to “process” sounds did not mean that he had a hearing disability. While he seems to hear everything, his responses are different and, indeed, often delayed. How might the new method being developed distinguish between a child who might be autistic and a child with a hearing problem?
Well, they already have comprehensive tests for hearing impairment, so I imagine they’d rule it out that way.
I’m curious how the test results might be for younger children; my son’s auditory processing has changed as he’s gotten older.
A brainstem evoked auditory response (BEAR) test, which can be performed on any one of any age (even infants) and any ability level. My students with very severe physical challenges (no volitional movement) are able to have their hearing accurately tested with a BEAR test. (A brainstem evoked visual response test can do the same for checking vision.) In our program (special needs program with a mixed population) we ask parents to have hearing tested via a BEAR test anytime we detect a delayed auditory response or a need for a longer auditory processing time. Once we know that it is not hearing we work to develop better auditory processing skills and to teach compensatory skills.
This study says to me, given it was done on ages 6-15, that our learners with autism still have processing delay even after likely educational/therapeutic interventions. My guess would be futher studies would indicate a similar or longer delay in younger learners with autism.
I have an APD (auditory processing disorder). I most having trouble in noisy environments and trouble distinguishing subtle differences in pronunciation- it is more annoying to those around me than it is to me (I say “huh?” a lot!). It can also cause a delay in processing information though. About 5% of the population has it APD.
I am wondering if children on the spectrum have a higher rate of auditory processing issues? In any event, unless autistic children respond in a clinically distinct way (ie: differently than children with just auditory processing disorder) I’m not sure how this test would be clinically helpful?