PLT Test Blog

When time is of the essence All kinds of dysfunctions may appear in autistic brains, which in itself make it a highly complex condition. There is also the when and where aspects of these dysfunctions, which often gets overlooked, or lost in oversimplification. This then has to fit into the concept of critical periods, that I introduced in an earlier post.  Critical Periods in the Biology of Autism – Not to miss the Boat Critical periods are times during the brain’s development when it is particularly vulnerable to any disturbance, for example an excitatory/inhibitory imbalance. This then leads to another related concept which is that of sensitive periods; these are periods when the person should be responsive to particular therapy. Sensitive periods are very important to be understood by those planning clinical trials, because a therapy may indeed be effective only when given within a specific time window. During this time the person is sensitive to the therapy, but they will not ...

This blog has shown that great things are possible just by fine-tuning a full-sized autistic brain, during childhood. In the case of our reader Roger, we are reminded that in adulthood the correct intervention can have profound results. It is never too late. Nonetheless, it is clear that the sooner you intervene with biology, the better the end result should be. There is a concept of Critical Periods (also called sensitive periods) where it seems the maturation of a young brain is particularly vulnerable to both environmental and genetic insults. During these periods if you intervene pharmacologically you might make permanent life-changing modifications to the brain.   The recurring theme in Critical Periods in autism is a disturbed excitatory-inhibitory (E/I) balance. This is the same E/I imbalance discussed in depth in this blog.  Some conditions that may lead to autism are detected before birth, such as Down Syndrome (DS) and many others could be. Surprisingly, there is now...