Aberrant functional connectivity of neural circuits associated with social and sensorimotor deficits in young children with autism spectrum disorder.
Heng Chen, Jia Wang, Lucina Q Uddin and 6 others
PMID 30475453WHAT IT FOUND
Brain scans under sedation showed weaker links in social/language networks and stronger links in sensorimotor/visual networks in 29 children with autism and 29 matched controls.
These patterns tracked social and repetitive behavior scores, but did not test therapy.
Key findings
01Twenty-three brain regions showed atypical connectivity in children with autism compared with matched controls.
02The regions fell into two circuits: one with social, language, and memory areas, and one with sensorimotor and visual areas.
03Connectivity in the social circuit was related to social symptom scores, and connectivity in the sensorimotor/visual circuit was related to restricted and repetitive behavior scores; neither circuit was significantly related to the other score.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The final analysis was small: 29 children with ASD and 29 matched controls after exclusions. All participants were male native Chinese speakers, so the findings may not apply to girls or other cultural groups. Children were scanned while sedated, not awake, and the authors note the findings might be specific to deep sleeping children. Verbal ability estimated by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was not matched between groups. The study did not directly measure sensorimotor deficits, so the link to sensory symptoms is inferred. The study did not test treatment, so it cannot show that any therapy changes outcomes.
Declared interests
All authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these connectivity findings as a diagnostic test or as proof that a therapy works. The study analyzed 29 children with autism and 29 controls under sedation, and it did not test treatment outcomes.