David Rowland & His Theories on AS
Rowland has a very restrictive definition of Asperger’s syndrome. He doesn’t believe that there is a spectrum – that Asperger’s is an all-or-nothing condition. From his point of view, AS has been grossly overdiagnosed and many people have accrued benefits they don’t deserve. He believes the common criteria for AS are so overly broad as to be meaningless: • Difficulty with communication and interaction with people; • Restricted interests and repetitive behaviours; • Symptoms that impair the ability to function properly in school, work, and other areas of life. Rowland believes that none of them applies exclusively to autism.
Autism is not a developmental disorder but rather an inherent brain anomaly.
Rowland gives this comprehensive list of signs that I find very useful, but view them as being on a spectrum of expression in the individual person – from marked involvement to being almost normal.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has 52 signs:
Social Traits
• Considers self to be an outsider
• Lacks innate motivation to socialize
• Unaware of feelings, needs, and interests of others
• No awareness of how perceived by others
• Unaware of socially appropriate responses
• Misses subtleties, unable to take hints
• Unable to read body language
• No awareness of flirting
Relationships
• Failure to develop friendships
• Understands love intellectually but cannot feel love
• May understand empathy but not be able to feel it
• Cannot be emotionally available to others
• Others cannot provide an emotional safety net
In Conversation
• Speaks factually with no trace of emotion
• Takes everything literally
• Easier to monologue than dialogue
• Oblivious to the motivations of others while they are speaking
• Misses sarcasm
• Misses social cues and nonverbal communication
• Participating in 3-way conversations may be overwhelming
• May have difficulty following topic changes
Sensory Overload
• Hypersensitive to noise and other sensory stimuli
• Experiences anxiety from being mentally trapped in a sensory assault
• Overwhelmed from hearing unwanted conversations
• Overwhelmed by too much information
• Coping with electronics and filling out forms may cause anxiety
• Sensory overload makes it impossible to think or focus
• Difficulty listening to the radio or talking with others while driving
Emotional Traits
• Unable to feel emotion
• Has physiological responses instead of emotions
• Processes emotions intellectually
• Anxiety bypasses the intellect to warn of unprocessed emotions
• Incapable of experiencing fear
• Can be angry without knowing so
• Never (or rarely) cries or laughs
• Cannot nurture self psychologically
• Shrinks from emotional displays by others
• Unable to defend against emotional attacks
Temperament
• Drawn more strongly to certain things than to people
• Innate forthrightness tends to scare others
• Never bored, always engaged in some mental activity
• Consistent with daily routines, agitated if the routine is disrupted
• Spontaneity is not possible, activities must be pre-planned
• Cannot lie spontaneously, can tell only premeditated lies
Rowland’s Views on the Neurobiology of AS. The neurological structure of the autistic brain is the same as that of any other brain. What is different about the autistic brain is how it functions in its neurophysiology. In a neurotypical brain, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) acts like an automatic transmission that seamlessly switches attention back and forth between the frontal lobes, as required.
In autism, however, a dysfunctional ACC keeps the person trapped in his/her left frontal lobe, the intellectual, analytical, problem-solving part of the brain – with no ability to access the emotional/creative processing right frontal lobe, which plays a central role in spontaneity, social behaviour, and nonverbal abilities. Some neurotypical people are left-brain dominant, whereas others are right-brain dominant. Autistic people, however, are left-brain exclusive.
They always speak factually, with no trace of emotion, and a deadpan facial expression.
Being left-brain exclusive means that one can only process his/her emotions intellectually, by deduction or inference, a process that can take about 24 hours. Failure to process emotions causes anxiety, which is an upsetting physiological response (different from emotion) that bypasses the intellect.
Dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex is the probable cause of hyperfocus, the perpetual state of intense single-minded concentration fixated on one thought pattern at a time, to the exclusion of everything else. Hyperfocus is so intensely single-minded that an autistic person cannot divide attention between two trains of thought. An autistic person takes everything you say literally because s/ he cannot also be running a second mental program questioning how you use words. While talking at length about a favourite topic, autistic people are incapable of running a second mental program asking how they are being received or perceived by their audience. Autistic people require structured activities because they cannot divide their attention between what they are doing and trying to figure out what may be about to happen next.
Hyperfocus also causes various kinds of sensory overload. A sudden loud or high-pitched noise switches hyperfocus to the noise, which the autistic person then experiences with many times the intensity than does a neurotypical person. Seeing too many words on a page can cause cognitive impairment, whereby the autistic person’s mind goes disturbingly blank. Too many products on shelves and overhearing unwanted conversations in stores can trigger anxiety. Lighting displays in hardware stores can trigger intense anxiety. For some, hyperfocus exaggerates the sense of touch, making close-fitting clothing irritating and hugs unbearable.
Autism is caused by an inherent neurophysiological anomaly that creates a perpetual state of hyperfocus: intense mental concentration fixated on one thought pattern at a time to the exclusion of everything else, including one’s feelings. Hyperfocus is the sole factor responsible for the autistic person’s withdrawal into an inner world that is entirely mental. Hyperfocus keeps a person’s awareness trapped in the intellectual/analytical left frontal lobe with no ability to access whatever may be happening in the right frontal lobe, where emotions and social connectivity are felt. Autistic hyperfocus explains all 11 traits of Asperger syndrome as listed by Lorna Wing above.
Hyperfocus is the unique and defining characteristic of autism that is responsible for 52 of its observed traits listed below. Hyperfocus is the perpetual and unrelenting state of intense single-minded concentration fixated on one thought pattern at a time, to the exclusion of everything else.
Approximately one-third of the traits above can also have other causes. That is why the symptom survey approach to diagnosing fails. Without understanding causality, the categorizing of symptoms creates only confusion. The autism spectrum idea is counterproductive and needs to be scrapped. This erroneous concept has been a major contributor to the epidemic of false diagnoses of autism.
Autism does not belong on any spectrum. There is only one kind of autism, not several. There are no shades of autism, nor any such thing as autistic tendencies. Autism is 100 percent. Either one is autistic, or s/he is not. There is no middle ground.
The only variable within autism is the intensity with which hyperfocus is experienced. Low-functioning autistic people (an autism disorder) are so intensely locked into hyperfocus as to be unreachable. High-functioning autistic people (Asperger syndrome) experience hyperfocus less intensely.
Non-communicative autistic children are the ones most intensely trapped in hyperfocus, and there is no known way to bring them out of it. Intensely autistic children cannot be taught to speak; however, some spontaneously start to speak on their own initiative, as Einstein did at age four. The only non-communicative children who can be taught to speak are those who have developmental, learning, language, communication, or social disorders unrelated to autism.
Diagnostic Questionnaire (Rowland)
The surest way to find out if someone is autistic is to ask these five questions, to which you should receive the following responses. Example of an intellectual answer: “No, I’m not angry. That wouldn’t be logical.”
Anyone who answers all five questions above is autistic. Anyone who answers four or fewer as above is not autistic. Note: If the person answers the third question with a phobia (e.g., of heights), then re-ask the question this way, “Aside from this phobia, do you normally experience fear of any kind?”
1. How often do you cry? “never” or “rarely”
2. How often do you laugh? “never” or “rarely”
3. What are you afraid of? “nothing” or an intellectual answer
4. What are you feeling now? “nothing” or an intellectual answer
5. Do you ever get bored? “never”
