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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
As a research scientist in biology, I do not doubt that some children with severe symptoms of classical autism can get better. I also don't doubt that they are in the minority.

We don't yet know what causes autism. I've often wondered myself if there is[b] a link to proper or improper myelinization of the brain. [/b]

We may also find, as in inattentive and hyperactive types of ADHD, that different types of autism have actually little to do with each other, and that some have a better prognosis than others.

[/quote]

Do you mind explaining this, and also what would cause it?[/quote]

Oh, it's purely hypothetical on my part. 
Myelin is the fat layer that envelops nerves to increase conductivity, and therefore efficiency of messaging between neurons. It is highly specific yet develops in a very predictable way in normal brains: practicing a specific skill makes more myelin layers in that particular neuronal circuit, making it even faster and highly tuned. This is how infants learn to walk and talk. By dint of listening, observing and imitating sounds or movements, they build up myelin in those circuits and eventually master walking or talking. Same for playing violin or chess.
However, if you don't use that circuit, the myelin degrades. "Practice makes perfect" describes it well.
Perhaps in atypical brains such ADHD and autistic brains, myelin cannot build up in the typical way, even with intense therapeutic focus on certain skill acquisition. There would be a kind of myelin block upstream.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which myelin is progressively destroyed. So myelin could play a role in other brain diseases.

Very fuzzy-wuzzy, isn't it? We're only just realizing the immense power and ramifications of myelin, and studies are pretty thin on the ground. You know Einstein is supposed to have had enormous quantities of it in his brain, whereas his neuron mass was exactly the same as an average brain?

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I'm not an expert but did work with the severely autistic many years ago.   UCLA researchers were finally dumping the frigid mother theory and working on the myelinated sheath theory.  This would have been in the late 70s.  I thought (??) we were well through that theory and had moved on to a number of others, including inhalation of car exhaust and now working on the age of the father's sperm.  Am I wrong?[/quote]

I'm the scientist who responded earlier.

As long as cause is not pinpointed and the exact workings of a disease are not fully established, ALL theories are still on the table. 
There have been times in the history of science when what was thought to be the most ridiculous theory turned out to be true - Galileo's hypothesis that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and not the opposite, for instance. He sure suffered for that one!

And yes, to answer a PP, myelin can build-up to shore up a circuit at any age. However it is recognized that children's brain growth make them more sensitive to rapid build-up of myelin, and that after a certain age, 50 or so, myelin starts to degrade faster. Hence the common wisdom of learning when you're young. Brain plasticity as someone else pointed out is a wonderful thing - people with brain damage have relearnt essential skills by bypassing the damaged circuits and building myelin in other circuits.
It has also been shown that neurodegenerative diseases affect those with lower IQs in more rapid and visible ways. Those with higher IQs (more myelin, although of course there is more to IQ than myelin) have more "padding" and buy themselves more time before Parkinson's or Alzheimer's starts to affect their cognitive processes in ways that can be measured by standard tests.

Anyway, it's all fascinating and we need more funding for research. The NIH is begging for more money for their huge brain study, but funds are not forthcoming right now.[/quote]

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