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Drive Brain Development:

Closing the GAP between your child’s developmental
age and their chronological age.

Presented by:
Michael A. Gruttadauria, DC, DACAN
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
&
Diplomate of The American Chiropractic
Academy of Neurology
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We have a serious problem…

As of now, 1 out of every 60-100 children will develop Autism…

What about next year?
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Even Worse…
underlying dysfunction in biochemical and
neurological systems is never identified in most children
because their doctors are not looking for them!
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My Motivation
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More Motivation
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Typical Development
 Brain function develops in a baby secondary to sensory perception and
movement. A baby starts to orient to sounds and his/her mother‟s voice and
begins to look at objects. This is the beginning of sound and visual sensory
perception.

 At the same time, the baby starts to kick their feet and move their hands.
This is the beginning of motor development.

 Then the baby tries to hold their head up against gravity…this is the
beginning of vestibular development.

These things translate into „developmental milestones‟ (sitting up, babbling,

crawling, walking, etc.) that give us cues into the nervous system‟s growth.
Appropriate development of these milestones is absolutely essential to the
eventual „higher functions‟ like language and communication.
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Higher Development
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AUTISM : A Brain Disorder or A

Disorder That Affects The Brain?
- Martha R. Herbert, MD, PhD
Clinical Neuropsychiatry - 2005

 The encephalopathic features of autism may rest on chronic

tissue abnormalities and maladaptive processing patterns, and
may be treatable and even reversible.

 Abnormalities in autism may come from sustained

neuromodulator and/or processing and connectivity abnormalities
that may be amenable to reduction by properly targeted
interventions.
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What Causes Autism?

Neurobiological data suggests that autism is caused by late disruption
of the Central Nervous System (CNS) just prior to birth,
perinatally, or postnatally. (Bachevalier, 1994; Kemper and Baumann, 1993).

When viewed from a neurodevelopmental perspective, this is very

encouraging because it means that most all of the neurons have
already been established and therefore very little neural tissue
would be damaged or affected.

This certainly corroborates the findings by Tsai (1989) and Kemper

and Bauman (1993) that there is no gross neuranatomic
involvement in autism. It may also offer much greater hope for
reversing the behavioral disturbances that occur with the
syndrome of autism.
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Autism: A Brain Disorder or A

Disorder That Affects The Brain?
- Martha R. Herbert, MD, PhD
Clinical Neuropsychiatry – 2005
cont.

 Treatment targets for metabolic changes in autism may

point to pathway-related interventions such as enzyme
cofactors (e.g. vitamins and minerals) that are GRAS
(generally recognized as safe).

 Improvement at any of these levels may alter system

properties to improve brain functioning, behavior, health
and quality of life for autistic individuals.
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Autism is Not a Disease, But a Series

of Dysfunctions.

It is NOT a psychiatric illness.

50% Neurological & 50% Biochemical

The few doctors that do treat kids with autism look only at their
biochemistry, not their neurology.
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Three ‘types’ of Autism

1. Baby is slow to develop from birth.

2. Baby is slow to develop, and has

regression.

3. Baby is developing typically, then has a

regression and loss of acquired skills.
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Neurology Brief

Average number of neurons in the brain = 100 billion

Each with 1,000 – 10,000 synapses!
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The Brain Has a ‘Central

Integrative State’

The sum of all excitatory and inhibitory firing.

Any alteration of this CIS leads to brain dysfunction

Input and Output are balanced

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Brainstem
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We Experience the World Through

Our Senses
Vision

Balance Hearing

Smell Touch

Taste

They all converge to give

us our REALITY
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What is Actually Wrong?

“Likely that several functional neural loops are

implicated and that all impinge on
neurocognitive/social cognitive functions that are
crucially impaired in autism.”
– (Gillberg 1999, Gillberg & Coleman 2000)

A „disconnect‟ between brain regions causing

changes in all cortical function.
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NEUROLOGICAL DYSFUNCTION
SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER
(Multisensory Dysintegration)

FUNCTIONAL DISCONNECTION SYNDROME

(Cortical Hemisphericity)

Sensory Processing Disorder means that the brain is having a hard

time taking in all of the senses and combining them to form
individual experiences or percepts. These kids usually have a mixed
sensory profile with some senses being over stimulated and some
that are understimulated. (ie. A child that ‘stims’, but also covers
their ears to block out noise)

Cortical Hemisphericity means that the two halves of the brain are
not communicating as much as they should with each other, and
usually one side is actually weaker than the other.

** These problems are changes in function not structure, so they are

not seen on an MRI or CT Scan. They can be found by a trained
clinician.
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Sensory Issues
 Picky eater - sensitive to taste or texture, maybe unable to feel the food around mouth - slowly
introduce different textures around the individual's mouth, eg flannel, toothbrush, foods, introduce
small portions, change texture of the food, purée it. Encourage activities that involve the mouth,
such as whistles, bubble wands, straw painting.

 Chews on everything, including clothing and objects - may find this relaxing, enjoys the tactile
input of the item - latex-free tubes, straws, hard gums (chill in fridge).

 Refuses to wear certain clothes - dislike the texture or pressure on their skin, turn items inside
out so there is no seam - remove any tags or labels; allow them to wear clothes that they are
comfortable in.

 Difficulties getting to sleep - may have difficulty shutting down senses, in particular visual and
auditory - use blackout curtains, allow child to listen to music to cut out external sounds, weighted
blankets.

 Finds concentrating in the classroom difficult - may have too many sensory distractions: too noisy
(talking, bells, chairs scraping the floor), lots of visual stimuli (people, pictures on the wall), may
also find holding a pencil uncomfortable (hard/cold) - position them away from the doors and
windows, use furniture in the room to create an area free from distraction or if possible an
individual workstation, try different textures to make the pencil more comfortable.
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Sensory Dysfunction
 Ermer, J., & Dunn, W. (1998). The Sensory Profile: A discriminant analysis of children
with and without disabilities. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52, 283-290.
 In this study, we compared the children with autism, children with ADHD and children
without disabilities to see whether we could sort them into separate groups based on their
Sensory Profile scores. We found that we could identify children into their appropriate
groups with 89% accuracy based on specific scores on the Sensory Profile. Children with
autism were more likely to have oral sensory processing challenges, while children with
ADHD were more likely to have distractibility.

 Myles, B. S., Hagiwara, T., Dunn, W., Rinner, L., Reese, M., Huggins, A., & Stansberry, S.
(2004). Sensory Issues in Asperger syndrome and autism. Education and Training in
Developmental Disabilities, December.
 In this study we compared 68 children with AS and 68 children with autism to determine
whether there were differences in sensory processing patterns between the two groups.
For the subtests of Emotionally Reactive and Inattention/Distractibility, individuals with AS
received a lower score than their counterparts with autism. The authors discuss the
possibility that sensory processing may be an area to identify differences in the 2 groups.
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Sensory Dysfunction
Researchers found significant differences between children
with autism and peers on the Sensory Profile scores.
Watling, R., Dietz, J., & White, O. (2001). Comparison of Sensory Profile scores of young
children with and without autism spectrum disorders. American Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 55(4), 416-423.

Children with autism had differences in sensory processing

when compared to peers. Their differences occurred across all
areas tested on the Sensory Profile.
Kientz, M. A., & Dunn, W. (1997). Comparison of the performance of children with and
without autism on the Sensory Profile. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51, 530-
537.
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Neurological Soft Signs

 Patients with schizophrenia and related psychoses have an excess of minor

neurological
abnormalities (neurological soft signs) of unclear neuropathological
origin. These include poor motor coordination, sensory perceptual
difficulties and difficulties in sequencing complex motor tasks. Neurological
soft signs seem not to reflect primary tract or nuclear pathology. It still has to be established whether
neurological soft signs result from specific or diffuse brain structural abnormalities.

 We conclude that neurological soft signs are associated with regional grey matter volume changes and
that they may represent a clinical sign of the perturbed cortical–subcortical
connectivity that putatively underlies these disorders.
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What is Dysfunction?
Electrochemical changes within the system
that changes communication between brain-
body and brain-brain.
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Once Dysfunction is Identified…

Then What?
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NEUROPLASTICITY AND REHABILITATION

JRRD Volume 42 Number 4, July/August 2005
By Mark Hallett, MD

CONCLUSION
For the future, a variety of innovative methods may well emerge that take
advantage of brain’s plastic processes.

…other techniques may utilize brain stimulation methods to improve

rehabilitation.
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Where Do You Start?

BRAIN BALANCE

Use specific sensory training on

the side OPPOSITE the cortical
soft signs.

Light, Sound, Brushing, Deep

Pressure, Vestibular Training,
Balance Exercise, Mobilization,
Smell & Motor Planning.
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MULTISENSORY TRAINING

Developmental Plasticity
Studies of neural connections indicate that afferent cells after
damage can produce new connections based upon a process
called synaptic reorganization. This discovery forms the bases for
brain plasticity.
Brauth,et al 1991; Gazzaniga,et al, 1979)

Multisensory Training requires the brain and supporting nervous

system to be externally stimulated in order for growth and
development to occur. This brain plasticity concept requires four
important factors to be present at all times:

1. Environmental Stimuli
2. Frequent Stimulation
3. Proper Duration of Stimulation
4. Consistency
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Hebb’s Law:

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

- Donald Hebb (1949)

Neuroplasticity: A phenomenon in which neurons react to changed

conditions by making new connections or using existing connections in
different ways.
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 A new study from Temple University researchers found that children

with autistic spectrum disorders who underwent sensory integration
therapy exhibited fewer autistic mannerisms compared to children
who received standard treatments.

 Such mannerisms, including repetitive hand movements or actions,

making noises, jumping or having highly restricted interests, often
interfere with paying attention and learning.
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Ongoing Cognitive Drive

Focused on the use of high-tech positive

reinforcement learning ‘games’ to engage a
child and help them learn and grow.
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Interactive Metronome Training

The goal of Interactive
metronome training is to
bring about lasting
improvements in an
individual’s fundamental
information processing,
planning and sequencing and
attention capacities.

With sufficient practice over

sessions the trainee’s brain
develops enhanced
information processing
capacity.
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Studying Autism Is
Not Enough!
It is time to treat it aggressively.
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Success…one child at a time

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For More Information:

Contact Us

Long Island Spectrum Center, Inc.

100 Manetto Hill Road
Suite 106
Plainview, NY 11803
516-470-9525
www.lispectrum.com