Autism is a spectrum where no two individuals are alike.  Some are more challenged than others and can display varying abilities.  There are those at one extreme presenting as non-verbal while some can be reasonably functional.  In some cases, individuals that can focus on an area of interest and can be quite competent in their field and sometimes more than this.  The question is, is this is a state of mind, a state of being or something completely different?  Mental illnesses are hard to navigate and not one size fits all.  Autism is an imbalance within the brain at a vulnerable point in time (a lifetime unfortunately).  Schizophrenia and psychosis are a high dopamine low somatostatin illness.  Autism is the opposite.  A low dopamine high somatostatin irregularity.  There is a spectrum because the lower the dopamine and the higher the somatostatin the more challenges are thrown at an individual.  This forms one end of the spectrum.  As the somatostatin and the dopamine levels, out the other end of the spectrum is formed until autistic traits are unidentifiable. This is somewhere between autism and schizophrenia/psychosis at the other end.  While the two of these have completely different foundations, they have overlapping symptoms and, in some instances, may need to be treated totally differently.  Genetics play a big part in a lot of illnesses, and it is thought autism falls into this category.

Currently one in one hundred and sixty people have autism in the world.  It is critically important to have good levels of dopamine as an infant.  As discussed in previous papers dopamine is associated strongly with our memories/ensembles.  The more dopamine the more likelihood of revisiting a memory.  If there is no reward to go back to an observation in the environment that an individual is in, the memory is not reflected upon and can ultimately be lost.  If this happens on a regular basis in the hippocampus there are huge ramifications on the ability to learn social communications and interaction skills.  If there are no memories of any substance, there is no ability to associate one experience to another.  Large amounts of somatostatin also limit memories as a memory needs inhibition as well as stimulation.  Excess inhibition makes a memory trace insignificant.  If a memory is highly stimulated and highly inhibited it increases confusion.  Ultimately it leads to withdrawal and internalisation.  Evidently some of the markers and skills are not reached or achieved. Some of these are:

1. Does not show facial expressions like happy, sad, angry and surprised by 9 months of age.  This is due to not being able to record memories and associate with other memories.  Low dopamine associated memories are rarely revisited.

2. Uses few or no gestures by 12 months of age.  The ability to connect.  Once again, the building bricks of memory are lacking and the next step of developing gestures with experiences cannot be formed.

3. Does not notice when others are hurt or sad by 24 months of age.  If there is an inability to learn this within the confines of the autistic brain, then it is more than likely they can’t identify it in others (peers).

4. Has trouble understanding other people’s feelings or talking about own feelings at 36 months of age or older.  The need to have that basis of different levels of memories matched with different levels of dopamine is paramount in the formation of healthy understandings of what is happening around an individual.  Thus, a person can then gauge what is appropriate for different situations with other people.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Autism Spectrum Disorder