Creativity in Autism

Autistic traits associated with unique perceptions, tied to creativity.

Best, C., Arora, S., Porter, F. & Doherty, M. (2015). The relationship between subthreshold autistic traits, ambiguous figure perception and divergent thinking. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2518-2

Sensory Overresponsivity in Autism

Youth with autism and sensory overresponsivity show brain-based sensorilimbic hyperresponsivity and difficulty habituating to stimuli; those without overresponsivity may regulate via prefrontal downregulation of amygdala activity.

 Green, S.A., Hernandez, L., Tottenham, N., Krasileva, K., Bookheimer, S.Y. & Dapretto,  M. (2015). Neurobiology of sensory overresponsivity in youth with autism spectrum disorders. JAMA Psychiatry. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.0737

Connectivity in Autism

Neuroimaging findings indicate that sensorimotor regions of the brain become overconnected in autism at the expense of later-developing higher-order functions.

Amanda, J.K., Nair, A., Keown, C.L., Datko, M.C., Lincoln, A.J. & Müller, R.A. (2015). Cerebro-cerebellar resting state functional connectivity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Biological Psychiatry. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.03.024

Compensatory Role of Declarative Memory in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Scientific review indicates declarative memory may compensate for deficits in language disorder, dyslexia, autism, Tourette's and OCD.

Ullman, M.T. & Pullman, M.Y. (2015). A compensatory role for declarative memory in neurodevelopmental disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 51, 205-222.

Talent in Autism

Theory connects sensory sensitivity and detail-oriented attention to systemizing and talent in Autism.

Baron-Cohen, S., Ashwin, E., Ashwin, C., Tavassoli, T. & Chakrabarti, B. (2009). Talent in autism: Hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, 364, 1377-1383.