Autism :: Cymascope Research

	Autism is a highly variable brain disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior, typically beginning before a child is three years old. Autism affects many parts of the brain although how and why this occurs is not understood. Symptoms tend to continue through adulthood, although often in more muted form. The number of people known to have autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s, partly due to changes in diagnostic practice; the question of whether actual prevalence has increased is unresolved. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. Although early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills, there is no known cure. Not many children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful. An autistic culture has developed, with some individuals seeking a cure and others believing autism should be tolerated as a difference and not treated as a disorder. Contrary to common beliefs, autistic children do not prefer being alone. Making and maintaining friendships often proves difficult for those with autism. About a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs. Differences in communication may be present from the first year of life, and may include delayed onset of babbling, unusual gestures, diminished responsiveness, and vocal patterns that are not synchronized with the caregiver. In the second and third years, autistic children have less frequent and less diverse babbling, consonants, words, and word combinations; their gestures are less often integrated with words. Autistic children are more likely to repeat others' words or reverse pronouns, may have difficulty with imaginative play and with developing symbols into language. Cymatic help for autistic children The CymaScope has been exhibited at several science-based conferences in the USA and the UK and on a number of occasions we have been approached by autism therapists. The general consensus is that the visual feedback provided by a child seeing their own voice patterns will aid their acquisition of language. This hypothesis derives from the experiential aspects of CymaScope demonstrations in which, for example, classical music is made visible in real time. Hearing classical music without seeing it infrequently results in release of tears whereas hearing classical music while seeing it, in real time, frequently results in crying in adults. A brain mechanism, as yet not understood, is occurring in which an emotional response is triggered, we presume involving receipt of data in the visual cortex that is the equivalent of acoustic data being received via the ears and processed in the auditory cortex. These two sets of data apparently merge within the brain and, it is hypothesized, lay down new neural pathways. In the case of autistic children this may result in the acceleration of language development. We are open to discussions with autism therapists to begin conducting trials where sponsorship of the equipment is possible. No CymaScope protocols have yet been established for working with autistic children, however, we would welcome the opportunity to open a dialogue with therapists to establish outline protocols prior to beginning trials. The CymaScope could be located in the consulting room or in a remote office or store room. It could even be sited in a controlled environment in a different country and linked via the internet to the clinic. In all cases the therapist's room would have a television monitor or video projector to display the output of the CymaScope and a microphone to pick up the child's voice. No protocols have yet been established for working with autistic children and we welcome the opportunity to open a dialogue with therapists to establish outline protocols prior to beginning clinical trials. Marsha Steinberger comments on the CymaScope as a potential visual feedback tool Marsha Steinberger M.A. CCC-SLP Speech Pathologist Some speech pathologists have suggested that voice pattern recognition by the child could assist in the process of acquiring speech and language. Marsha Steinberger, M.A. CCC-SLP, a Speech-Language Pathologist based in Las Vegas, USA, works with autistic children and told us, “Since many children with autism are visual thinkers the CymaScope technology provides an ideal way to capitalize on their learning style. The visual feedback offered by this new instrument offers a real ray of hope to families with autistic children—if the child can see the sounds they are making it could greatly accelerate their ability to speak and acquire language. I plan on setting up a CymaScope study as soon as funding support is available. I would also like to conduct a study of people with brain injuries as it seems likely that the interactive and fun aspect of the CymaScope imagery will be a very stimulating and enjoyable experience for brain-injured patients and may well lead to improvements in brain function.” Children experience the CymaScope at a NASA event "..the autistic child is someone whose ear is closed to speech, although it is wide open to other sounds, which explains the exceptional dynamism of this type of child. The perception of sound can in fact provide a store of energy, the ear being a sort of generator that charges the cortex with electrical power. "Alfred Tomatis "The Conscious Ear " Pre-lingual autistic children (those who have not developed speech at all) may be able to acquire speech via a vocoder, instrument in which piano chords are the musical input. So, each time the therapist talks to the child the words would sound like a piano. Thus, the child would receive music but in the form of speech. The pre-lingual autistic child can perceive music, yet not speech, so the parent or therapist's words, which are normally sidestepped by the autistic child's brain, would instead go direct into the region of the cortex that processes music. The result may be that the child could learn speech via music. Listen to these excerpt's from Sparky's Magic Piano: We recommend you listen to track 2 first: http://www.kiddierecords.com/2006/archive/week_32.htm (Opens a new window)