I was at a seminar on TEACCH last nite and the gentleman who was speaking said that children with autism, aspergers and other disorders have a problem in how the white matter connects to the grey matter in the brain. He said this is seen during functional MRI's of the brain.

I would like to know more if anyone has more information.

Thanks, april

My son has CP and has low mylenation. There was something said about grey matter, but I have never really understood it all.

Hi, April

The only info I have on white matter is what I've read about concerning dd's disorder, NLD. The following is from a book that has been incredibly helpful to me called "Nonverbal Learning Disabilities at Home A Parent's Guide" by Pamela Tanguay. I hope it's OK to quote directly from her book. It may be more information than you really need, but it might explain a little bit. BTW, asperger's and NLD are often paired together.

" . . . After decades of research, Dr. Rourke and his associates have determined that the disorder is caused by damage to white matter in the brain (Rourke 1989, 1995)."

"A very simplistic definition of white matter is that it is the brain tissue made up of nerve cells which connect various parts of the brain to each other. It is called white matter because the nerve fibers are coated with myelin, a light-colored fatty substance which acts as insulation. In essence, it is the brain's wiring system. The myelin sheath can be compared to the plastic coating we find on electrical wires, and allows for rapid and accurate transmission of information within the brain. If the myelin sheath is damaged (as Dr. Rourke indicates may be the case with NLD), the child's processing speed is reduced, and the signal may not be sent accurately, or arrive at the proper destination. Therefore, although the information centers within the brain may be intact, the transmission of signals is not working properly. In other words, there is a 'short circuit' somewhere in the child's brain. Information about the brain tells us that there is a disproportionate amount of white matter in the right hemisphere of the brain compared to the left. Therefore the disability is sometimes referred to as Right Hemisphere Syndrome, meaning that the right hemisphere is dysfunctional because of white-matter damage."

"In contrast, it appears that function in the left hemisphere remains relatively intact. Therefore language, step-by-step reasoning, and other skills which are processed by the left hemisphere are more preserved. The right hemisphere, dealing with spatial, abstract, intuitive and other 'nonverbal' aspects, is impaired. Also, since higher-order thinking skills require the use of both hemispheres to integrate complex information, these skills are also impaired because one of the hemispheres isn't working properly."

Whew! I recently read an article on autism while waiting for my daughter at language therapy. If I remember correctly it was in TIME or one of those news mags and I didn't notice which issue it was, but if you could find it, there was a terrific model of the brain showing the differents parts, their functions and how they relate to each other.

I hope this helps!

Sandra

Thank you, Sandra for that info. Would you please let me know what NLD is?

April, in reading your post, then from the following posts, the movie "Lorenzo's Oil" came to mind - the one starring Susan Sarandon. That little boy became catatonic. Do any of you know of the parrallels here? I remember that the myelin sheath was the issue in this case, also. Wasn't it some kind of olive oil she worked with?

The other thing I'm thinking (I am a mom, not a doctor or scientist, of course), is that if this is true, shouldn't it be caught in the comprehensive ultrasounds while your pregnant? My son's brain showed perfectly fine. Of course, this is not for questions of termination, because this would show up when baby is older in gestation. This should be to prepare the parents for intervention/therapy and, for our husbands, NON DENIAL. I just think that if I had known my son would have issues, I could learn the signs and get him early intervention, appropriate discipline and learning tools so he could learn his way. I would have understood his obsessions more. Because I came from an abusive background, I was so careful not to carry that over. I'm so glad I did, at least as much as I could. I'm far from a perfect mom, but darn it, I try; that should count for something. (Now perfect wife and housekeeper, not so much right now.)

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Hi, NLD is nonverbal learning disorder or disability. It really is more of a developmental disability because it affects more than just academic skills. It also affects a child's ability to learn life skills. It can affect, to varying degrees, tactile perception and attention, visual perception and attention, spatial orientation, psychomotor coordination, generalizing information, mental flexibility, pragmatics, social skills, adaptability, emotional stability, and last but not least executive function and organization. For more information, you could check out a couple of websites www.nldline.com and www.nldontheweb.org.