The Autism Circuit: How Autism Works

The Autism Circuit Video Transcription

Autism is the term we use when more than one region of the brain has a LOW supply of brain chemicals. Since the Front Brain is often impacted by these power outages, people with autism often have ADHD, too.

For example, imagine this string of lights represents the neuron wires connecting all sections of your brain.

What happens if this circuit is cut?

The power goes out.

This is what happens when there is a low supply of brain chemicals in certain regions of the brain; the neuron wires don’t fire properly and the power between those sections goes out.

That means some sections of the brain are NOT able to communicate effectively or consistently with other sections.

However, the good news is that your brain can grow an unlimited number of neuron wires! So, when there is a challenged area, other sections of your brain can build pathways around it… like a detour.

How do you build pathways around the challenge areas?

By engaging stronger sections of your brain to learn new information… this includes your emotions, five senses, and connections to other life experiences that activate multiple sections of your brain.

These detours build neuron wire connections around weaker areas of the brain.  It’s like building muscles; the more you use them, the stronger your brain becomes.

Students build these detours by identifying their strengths and building learning connections, as taught in the SOAR^® Learning & Soft Skills system.

With effective detours, students with autism can discover success!

This is the Autism Circuit.

We will be featuring the more brain biology videos in the weeks to come. To watch the whole series now, click here.

To our students’ success,

Susan Kruger, M.Ed.
Creator of SOAR