A Long Island, New York, researcher has pinpointed for the first
time brain regions in children with autism linked to ritualistic
repetitive behaviour, the insatiable desire to rock back and
forth for hours or tirelessly march in place. Collaborating with
investigators at Duke University and the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill, Dr. Keith Shafritz, an assistant
professor of psychology at Hofstra University, unmasked brain
regions in children with autism typified by reduced neural
activity. In a series of high-tech mapping studies, he compared
brain images of children with autism to those of neurologically
normal youngsters. Repetitive behaviour is one of autisms core
traits and has driven some parents to extremes as they try to
distract a child to engage in other activities. Shafritz and
colleagues used a form of magnetic resonance imaging to explore
sites in the brain. They reported their findings in the current
issue of Biological Psychiatry. In children with autism,
Shafritz found deficits in sp