Neurobiology Final Project- Sometimes the label of Autism is not the case. This is our Experience.

1. Is it really Autism?
By Sylvia Castillo -
Lambourg

2. The Back Story
The Sequelae
1. Developmental Delays
2. Visual - ADHD– VOR
3. Hearing - Hypersensitivity -Cerebellum
4. Speech Delay
My son, TL , is now 9 years old. He was born nearly to
term but early on I noticed some issues , that I
deemed could be cause for concern. For example,
going to a kid’s indoor jumping park and jumping
only on his knees. This occurred roughly at 14 to 15
months . The pediatrician said don’t worry he will
grow out of it. Then at age two and half an event
occurred that changed his life and mine dramatically.
He swallowed a spray , cap or hat as I later learned
they are called and nearly died. He was in hospital for
5 days , put on Fentanyl and I had to fight the
Physician to get him off.
2

3. 1.
What are
Developmental
Delays?
Let’s start with the first
set of slides

4. “... Early child neurodevelopment refers to
the organization and function of the central
nervous system (CNS). The development of
the CNS starts early in embryonic life and
continues for years after birth. .. The early
rapid and complex development of the
brain underlies the functional or
observable performance and abilities in the
child. (Vaccine. 2019 Dec 10; 37(52): 7623–7641.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.05.027
4

5. What delayed have presented? T.L. was not speaking
completely at the time of his accident. After, his
accident he stopped speaking , a few months later he
developed sound sensitivity and sensitivity to light.
Today, at 9 he is rapidly recovering after my
enlightenment through this course. I have been able to
understand what happened and how to change it.
5

6. Hello!
This is him now at what seemed like would
never happen the beginning of a typical
childhood … Fun !
6

7. 7
“ All feature childhood onset with a constellation of symptoms spanning social
interaction and communication and including atypical behavior patterns. “
Handb Clin Neurol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 Dec 3.
Published in final edited form as:Yale Child Study Center New Haven Connecticut United
States
Why I never thought he had Autism ? I understand that many people live full
lives on the spectrum and I applaud them. I did not think my son was there
although more than one physician told me he was. They told me he would never
improve and the best I could hope for was to make him comfortable. I did not
accept this because very young children on the spectrum do not want or cannot
connect to others. The very essence of what makes us human the ability to
connect to others. My son always wanted to connect . He was loving and warm
but he couldn’t make the words. He couldn’t do it in writing , he could not speak
them but he could read. When the pandemic hit he was being homeschooled at
that time everyone was on locked down.. So, he and I were together all of the
time.. It was then that I realized he could for example recognize letters and
numbers but could not write them.

8. Dr. Mason’s Lecture on VOR
When I heard this lecture I couldn’t believe it. There it was right in front of me . The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is a reflex acting
to stabilize gaze during head movement, with eye movement due to activation of the vestibular
system.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibulo%E2%80%93ocular_reflex)
I immediately went home and did some ad- hoc testing as I am not a therapist. What did I observe …. A lack of the ability to
converge. I had already observed the difficulty in the eye accommodating to light. We live in Florida and this is particularly
challenging since the sun shines very brightly.
I started to spend more time trying to get him to write and what I observed was the inability to properly space letters , and
sometimes as the task endured the letters or numbers were reversed.
8

9. Cortical processing of visual input
“From the thalamus, visual input travels to the visual cortex, located at the rear of our brains. The visual cortex
is one of the most-studied parts of the mammalian brain, and it is here that the elementary building blocks of
our vision – detection of contrast, colour and movement – are combined to produce our rich and complete
visual perception.
Most researchers believe that visual processing in the cortex occurs through two distinct 'streams' of
information. One stream, sometimes called the What Pathway (purple in the image below), is involved in
recognising and identifying objects. The other stream, sometimes called the Where Pathway (green), concerns
object movement and location, and so is important for visually guided behaviour”. Please, see picture on next
slide. (https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-functions/visual-perception)
9

10. Visual Cortex
10

11. Visual Perception and Childhood Development
The ability of the child to see and repeat what he/she sees both verbally and eventually
in writing are related to the ability to visually process. It is not a matter of not seeing my
child has good vision. The problem of not being able to duplicate due not not adjusting
was and still is - although we are currently in the therapy. If one is to agree with the
“What/Where” he recognized the what but could not repeat the where. This led to his
relying on his ears to help him process information. Similar, to a blind person whose
auditory processing is heightened so was his.
11

12. Auditory Processing
Issues
When your eyes don’t work ; You let your ears do the job !
12

13. Looking for the Signs
TL’s experience
1. Would ask people’s name time and
again.
2. Was extremely sensitive to noise at
some point even to birds chirping.
3. Issues with writing, and spelling but
not reading.
4. Was extremely forgetful.
13

14. The Cerebellum Our personal CPU
‘The cerebellum is also involved in cognitive functions
such as attention, language, and emotion. Notably,
research has demonstrated that there are, in fact,
afferent and efferent neural connections between the
cerebellum and both motor and sensory areas of the
human brain, including the central auditory nervous
system.’’(The Auditory System: What’s the Cerebellum got to do with it?)
By Hillary K. Siddons and Frank E. Musiek,
University of Connecticut
The cerebellum, parietal cortex, and premotor cortex are
integral to visuomotor processing. The parameters of
visual information that modulate their role in visuomotor
control are less clear.(Vaillancourt DE, Mayka MA,
Corcos DM. Intermittent visuomotor processing in
the human cerebellum, parietal cortex, and
premotor cortex. J Neurophysiol. 2006
Feb;95(2):922-31. doi: 10.1152/jn.00718.2005.
Epub 2005 Nov 2. PMID: 16267114; PMCID:
PMC2366036.)
14

15. How this affected TL’s Development
Audition
Difficulty with speech, since
he could not processed
what he heard.
Movement
As, we have learned these
two senses are critical to the
cerebellum and
proprioception. He was
fearful of things like
jumping probably due to
inability to gauge or
readjust
Vision
Inability to copy what
he saw.
This led to difficulty
writing both letters and
numbers.
15

16. How the Course Helped me , help TL
I came to have a better understanding of how it all works together . The impact
of getting the proper stimuli to the brain to teach how to perceive.
Neuroplasticity of possible !
16

17. 17
Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at:
● sylvia.castlambourg@gmail.com