3 ms·

[Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I don't work in any relevant field, and have no formal medical education.] Keep in mind that autism tends to improve over time w

[Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I don't work in any relevant field, and have no formal medical education.] Keep in mind that autism tends to improve over time without any intervention. This is why it is mostly considered as a pediatric diagnosis. There are of course many autistic adults, but severity of symptoms almost invariably declines in later childhood. Also, causality is hard to tease out: Whether he started dancing because he improved or whether he improved because he started dancing is anyone's guess. That being said, there are reasons to believe that certain cerebellar dysfunctions are involved with autism. Physical clumsiness and lack of coordination is so common it is usually considered a necessary condition for making a diagnosis of autism. Studies have shown that autistics have impaired ability to tap consistent rhythms relative to children without autism (matched for age and IQ). Some have speculated that such dysfunctions are involved with the lack of cerebral coordination usually seen as a more proximate cause of autistic symptoms, such as the lack of a negative correlation between the task-positive and default networks. I'm not familiar with any reported non-kinesthetic cognitive benefits of thereapy designed to teach rhythm and coordination, and I don't imagine many have tried -- dyspraxia symptoms are notoriously immune to therapy, both in autistics and children with other development disorders. It'd be fun data to see, though.

phren0logy 16y ago
I am a doctor, and I work in the very relevant field of child psychiatry. Autism is a pediatric diagnosis because, like mental retardation, it is usually first identified in young children. Similar to mental retardation, the impact is life long. It does not go away by itself.
anigbrowl 16y ago
Also not a doctor, but my instinct is that the dance helped the autism. I have ADD and I used to be extremely physically awkward - don't want to self-diagnose dyspraxia, but I'd describe it as my movements being based on a calculus that was different from those of other people. I would have a specific reason for making an awkward movement, but not one other people could anticipate or even recognize, and even I knew it was often strange as I was doing it. I had similar issues in conversation, where I'd find myself saying something strange or awkward but being unable to put the brakes on in time: a horrible feeling, as if one's mouth wasn't fully under one's control. Well, at about age 26 I got into goa trance music (which shares the steady 4/4 pulse with disco, and is also best enjoyed loud), and I went out dancing a lot. In the space of 2 years it made a huge difference - I went from feeling like a bundle of arms and legs to having superior motor control, from being unable to catch something thrown straight to me (or fumbling it even if I caught it) to being able to catch something mis-thrown or dropped - I could just reach out and pluck something out of the air 2 feet to my side. I didn't even notice it particularly, it was my friends who started commenting on how good my reflexes were. Perhaps this improvement was due to natural and/or artificial alterations of brain chemistry, but I do feel that the extremely metronomic nature of dance music was a major factor. I liked dancing beforehand, but I sucked at it. Something about the loud steady 4/4 pulse served to resynchronize formerly oppositional gears, and over time made it easier to perceive and adapt to other metrical patterns too. I still have problems with polyrhythmic material though :) Now it sure isn't a total cure - I had other ADD-related problems (and some of the benefits, like being able to hyper-focus for long periods) but it increased my confidence and comfort enough that I started to see the connection between these phenomena, eventually leading to a clinical diagnosis and find ways to manage it. I do wish it wasn't classified as a 'disorder'. Besides the mild stigma associated with that, 'attention deficit' isn't too accurate either, since I've always been able to concentrate for extended periods (like reading a book in a single sitting) and being able to rapidly switch tracks in a busy or chaotic environment can be a singular asset: I'm weak on humdrum planning and time management, but very strong indeed on problem solving, improvisation or adapting to abrupt changes. Having worked in the arts over the last decade (sound engineering and technical directing), I've met a lot of people with both similar and opposite traits. It's an industry truism that everyone who is any good has either OCD or ADD - creatives and producers obsess over story or budgets, and technicians and keys excel at implementation and mediation. In short, the what and the how, a kind of client/server relationship. Both groups need each other, and both have an all-or-nothing attitude to their selected task. What people can be visionary or bullying; how people can be heroic or intransigent. Perhaps we should rename OCD and ADD to ideophilia and pragmatophilia.

phren0logy 16y ago

I am a doctor, and I work in the very relevant field of child psychiatry. Autism is a pediatric diagnosis because, like mental retardation, it is usually first identified in young children. Similar to mental retardation, the impact is life long. It does not go away by itself.

anigbrowl 16y ago

Also not a doctor, but my instinct is that the dance helped the autism. I have ADD and I used to be extremely physically awkward - don't want to self-diagnose dyspraxia, but I'd describe it as my movements being based on a calculus that was different from those of other people. I would have a specific reason for making an awkward movement, but not one other people could anticipate or even recognize, and even I knew it was often strange as I was doing it. I had similar issues in conversation, where I'd find myself saying something strange or awkward but being unable to put the brakes on in time: a horrible feeling, as if one's mouth wasn't fully under one's control. Well, at about age 26 I got into goa trance music (which shares the steady 4/4 pulse with disco, and is also best enjoyed loud), and I went out dancing a lot. In the space of 2 years it made a huge difference - I went from feeling like a bundle of arms and legs to having superior motor control, from being unable to catch something thrown straight to me (or fumbling it even if I caught it) to being able to catch something mis-thrown or dropped - I could just reach out and pluck something out of the air 2 feet to my side. I didn't even notice it particularly, it was my friends who started commenting on how good my reflexes were. Perhaps this improvement was due to natural and/or artificial alterations of brain chemistry, but I do feel that the extremely metronomic nature of dance music was a major factor. I liked dancing beforehand, but I sucked at it. Something about the loud steady 4/4 pulse served to resynchronize formerly oppositional gears, and over time made it easier to perceive and adapt to other metrical patterns too. I still have problems with polyrhythmic material though :) Now it sure isn't a total cure - I had other ADD-related problems (and some of the benefits, like being able to hyper-focus for long periods) but it increased my confidence and comfort enough that I started to see the connection between these phenomena, eventually leading to a clinical diagnosis and find ways to manage it. I do wish it wasn't classified as a 'disorder'. Besides the mild stigma associated with that, 'attention deficit' isn't too accurate either, since I've always been able to concentrate for extended periods (like reading a book in a single sitting) and being able to rapidly switch tracks in a busy or chaotic environment can be a singular asset: I'm weak on humdrum planning and time management, but very strong indeed on problem solving, improvisation or adapting to abrupt changes. Having worked in the arts over the last decade (sound engineering and technical directing), I've met a lot of people with both similar and opposite traits. It's an industry truism that everyone who is any good has either OCD or ADD - creatives and producers obsess over story or budgets, and technicians and keys excel at implementation and mediation. In short, the what and the how, a kind of client/server relationship. Both groups need each other, and both have an all-or-nothing attitude to their selected task. What people can be visionary or bullying; how people can be heroic or intransigent. Perhaps we should rename OCD and ADD to ideophilia and pragmatophilia.