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. …read more

It was a couple of months ago that my son Charlie started—for the first time in his life—to show sensitivity to sound by putting both hands over his ears. We’ve known autistic children and adults who’ve found the sound of merry-go-round music, clapping, sirens, and much more unbearable, but never (we thought) Charlie. And then the ear-covering thing started and it’s as if a whole new world of sounds and frequencies and pitches has become evident to us.
I took Charlie to hear a production of Cabaret at the college where I teach; Charlie lasted for almost the entire first act, …read more