Infantile Autism

An extension of the text discussion of schizophrenia includes a consideration of

infantile autism (see also text Chapter 4). The autistic condition appears similar to
schizophrenia, in that social withdrawal is a prominent characteristic of both.
There are, however, important differences. For example, autism is usually
diagnosed at an early age, sometimes within the first 6 months after birth, and
always by age 3. The usual age for diagnosis of schizophrenia is between 15 and
30 years. Although the incidence of schizophrenia in males and females is about
equal, autism occurs mostly in males. Finally, schizophrenia tends to run in
families, whereas autism does not.
James Kalat identifies nine characteristic behaviors of the autistic child.
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Social isolation. The child ignores others, even parents, and retreats into
a world of his (or her) own.
Stereotyped behaviors. The child rocks back and forth, bites his hands,
stares at some object, engages in repetitive behaviors.
Resistance to any change in routine.
Abnormal responses to sensory stimuli. Sometimes the child ignores visual
and auditory stimuli; at other times, he shows a startle reaction to very mild stimuli.
Insensitivity to pain. The child is remarkably insensitive to cuts, burns, and other sources of pain.
Inappropriate emotional expression. Sometimes the child may have sudden bouts of fear without obvious reason. In
other cases, he may show absolute fearlessness and unprovoked laughter.
Disturbances of movement. These vary from hyperactivity to prolonged inactivity.
Poor development of speech. Some never develop any spoken language, whereas others begin to develop it and then
lose it.
Specific, limited intellectual problems. Many autistic children do well on some intellectual tasks but very poorly on
others. It is nearly impossible to estimate their general intelligence because they fail to follow the directions of a
standard IQ test.

Prognosis for the autistic child is not good. Many drugs have been tried but none has proved to be reliably helpful. Therapy
involving operant conditioning techniques (see Chapter 17) has occasionally been useful. Recently, some encouraging results
have been reported for large doses of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B and magnesium. Some theorists have
suggested that parental lack of emotional warmth is the cause of autism, but others reject the bad-parent theory. They point to
the fact that in most cases, siblings are completely normal. It also seems impossible to alleviate autism by merely providing
a great deal of emotional warmth and love. One puzzling characteristic of some autistic children is that they tend to huddle
around radiators and other heat sources, as if they felt cold. Even more surprising, some autistic children behave almost
normally when they have a fever, showing better attention to their surroundings and improved communication with other
people.
James Kalat and others have speculated on the possible biological basis of autism. Insensitivity to pain, which characterizes the
autistic child, can also be produced by morphine or other opiate drugs. The brain uses some peptide synaptic transmitters,
called endorphins and enkephalins, with effects similar to those of morphine. If for some unknown reason the brain sometimes
produced huge amounts of enkephalins and at other times small amounts, the behavioral effect would resemble that of a child
who occasionally took morphine, and would be very much like that of a child with autism.
Eric Courchesne and Rachel Yeung-Courchesne have linked autism to underdevelopment of the cerebellum. They have used an
advanced imaging technique to show precisely where autism-linked damage may occur. The location of the damage suggests
that it occurs during the fetal stage or during the first 2 years of life and may be caused by genetic abnormality or exposure to a
virus or harmful chemicals.
Elias, M. (1988, May 26). Autism may be caused by brain damage. USA Today, p. 10.
Kalat, J. (2004). Biological psychology (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Wadsworth.
Courchesne, E., et al. (1988). Hypoplasia of cerebellar vermal lobules VI and VII in autism. New England Journal of Medicine, 318, 13491354.