AUTISM: NEW PERSPECTIVES

Autism, as an expression of neurodiversity, is not merely a behavioural and/or cognitive difference but is rooted

in specific neurobiological foundations.

Advanced neuroimaging studies, for instance, have highlighted significant structural and functional variations in the autistic brain, particularly regarding neural connectivity, synaptic density, and the activation of specific brain regions.

Numerous observations point to local hyperconnectivity within the cerebral cortex, which helps explain certain cognitive traits typical of autism, such as intense focus (flow state).

Key structures involved in socio-emotional regulation, such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, often exhibit atypicalities in volume and/or activation, influencing both emotional responses and the management of social interactions.

Furthermore, the cerebellum linked to motor and cognitive coordination presents differences when compared

to neurotypical individuals.

From an operational perspective, functional MRI (fMRI) studies have revealed an unusual activation of the "Default Mode Network" the neural circuit involved in introspection, sociality, and self-regulation suggesting

that autistic individuals process both their internal and external worlds in profoundly different ways from

allistic individuals.

Additionally, alterations in the levels of certain neurotransmitters (such as GABA and Glutamate) impact the balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition, contributing to sensory hypersensitivity and diverse learning modalities.

"𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑖𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡, 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙, 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.

𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙.

𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡

𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜

𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟, 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒."

- 𝐷𝑟. 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑔𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟

𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑁𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑛, 𝑁𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦