Asperger's and Autistic Children Show Distinct Brain Patterns

Patterns of brain connectivity in autistic children are different from those with Asperger's syndrome, a latest research claims.

The study of over 463 autistic and Asperger's syndrome children and 517 kids with normal development, aged between one and 18 years, found that the two conditions can be biologically different.

For the research, neurologists at Boston Children's Hospital used electroencephalography (EEG) recordings to measure the signaling of neurons in the various regions of brain in the participants. "We looked at a group of 26 children with Asperger's, to see whether measures of brain connectivity would indicate they're part of autism group, or they stood separately," said study researcher Dr Frank Duffy, a neurologist at Boston's Children Hospital.

Initially, the researchers found similar patterns of brain connectivity in children with both conditions. The connectivity was weaker in left hemisphere of brain, which is related to language, compared to children with normal cognitive development.

After further examination, the researchers found differences in connectivity in left hemisphere of the brain. Children with Asperger's syndrome showed different brain connectivity than autistic children. "The findings are exciting, and the methods are sophisticated," Dr James McPartland, a professor of child psychiatry at Yale University, told LiveScience. He was not involved in the study.

Asperger's syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder are put in same category in American Psychiatric Association (APA). Children with Asperger's are inactive in social interaction and exhibit odd behavior. Such symptoms are overlapped with those of autism. But the language and cognitive development of children with Asperger's syndrome is more or less similar to that of children without any medical condition.

Parents showed discontent after APA included Asperger's syndrome in the same category as autism saying that kids with Asperger's might not get the special training they require. Other doctors said that it was too early to put the two disorders in the same group, reported LiveScience.

According to Dr Duffy, children with these two disorders should be given different treatment. "It's essential to separate these two groups, because they need different education and training and opportunity," he said.