What About the Behavioral and Functional Capacity of a Child Diagnosed with Autism?

Most autistic children have stereotypical behaviors. Behavior patterns span the spectrum of the autistic diagnosis: there is less autistic behavior in a high functioning child compared with a low functioning child. Why do these stereotypical behaviors appear?

To answer this question we must apply what we know about the development of the human brain. Humans slowly ascended from lower life forms to what we are today by a process of natural selection. Each further development had to survive the continual battle for existence, being against being, species against species. This process has gone on for many millions of years.

Autism is Characterized by the Degree that the Reptilian Brain Takes Charge

It is believed that the human brain evolved in three main stages.

Its ancient and primitive part is the reptilian brain. The reptilian brain appears to be largely unchanged by evolution and we share it with all other animals that have a spine. The reptilian brain controls body functions required for sustaining life. These functions include breathing and body temperature. At this level of evolution behavior is related to the survival of the organism and responses are instinctive and automatic.

I believe that in the autistic child the overwhelming  number of stressors (vaccines, toxins, drugs, initial compromised health) block communication between the different parts of the brain and, most importantly, the overwhelming number of stressors drives the organism into a survival mode.

What are the Implications?

In the autistic child, then, it is my belief that the primary and controlling brain is no longer the neocortex but, instead, the child is functioning primarily through instinctual drives arising from the now more-dominant primitive reptilian brain. Survival mechanisms predominate and elicit instinctual, self-defensive behavior. Many of the functions residing in the neocortex, including emotions, thinking, and concern for others are pushed into the background as survival mechanisms predominate.

The instinctual behavior arising from the primitive reptilian brain takes precedence in maintaining the survival of the organism because now, in this attacked and weakened organism, survival is all that matters. The hard-wiring for survival takes precedence and overrides the brain functions arising in the neocortex.

I also believe that many of the behavioral traits, those involving movement of the limbs or body, are  used as mechanisms of stress reduction. The body’s musculature is heavily populated with many nerves and sense organs. Sensory input is also hard-wired into the organism; it cannot thrive without sensory input and, therefore, seeks it by whatever means available. Self-stimming is an example.

Since many of the normal sensory input structures, such as vision and hearing, are poorly functioning, the body resorts to more primitive mechanisms of providing sensory input via the use of muscular movement.

An understanding of autism as a Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is fully unexplored as of this time. The extent to which the reptilian brain takes over will determine the level of autism and provides a rationale for delineating the differences in the behavioral and functional spectrum we see in that range from high functioning to low functioning.