By Dr. Charles Cartwright
On Monday and Tuesday, I wrote about Justin, a young man with autism whose parents identified his interest in art at an early age. I’ve included two of his pieces in this post, which the gracious permission of him and his family.
"Self Portrait" Charcoal on paper by Justin Canha
Justin’s story raises many issues that are relevant to all people on the autism spectrum. When repetitive, stereotypic behaviors appear, they tend to be viewed as “stim” behaviors that can interfere with the child’s ability to respond to intervention programs. In addition, cognitive ability is difficult to evaluate because of the impact of the social, language and behavioral manifestations of autism. The results of formal testing procedures are difficult to interpret because of these factors.
However, a child’s ability, skill, and talent may initially present in the form of these repetitive behaviors. One of the core aspects of autism is a restriction in the range of preferred activities and the engagement in repetitive behaviors, with the presence of routines and rituals. Parents describe how, from the time of early development, their children show repetitive motor mannerisms and engage in repetitive activities, such as spinning objects or lining up toys. In addition, children with autism spectrum disorders often develop intense circumscribed interests that may involve repeatedly drawing certain objects. In many cases, parents recognize that these circumscribed skills or interests actually reflect their child’s intelligence. They often assert this perception despite being told by professionals that formal cognitive testing procedures have shown that their child is functioning at a low cognitive level.
Individuals with autism have a strong tendency to focus on detail. In contrast, they often have difficulty in developing a sense of the whole picture, or the gestalt. The theory that defines this style of viewing the world is referred to as “weak central coherence.” This implies a cognitive deficiency and underplays the presence of cognitive strengths. It is concerning that cognitive assessments report mental retardation in up to 70 percent of people on the autism spectrum. In a study by Dawson et al. (2007), intellectual assessments using the Ravens Progressive Matrices (Mackintosh, 1998) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Wechsler, 1991) were administered to children with autism and compared to typically developing children. The scores of the Ravens in the children with autism were 30-70 percentile points higher than their Wechsler scores. In contrast, the typically developing children showed no discrepancy in the two sets of scores. This finding supports the concept of atypical cognitive processing in these children, rather than mental retardation.
"Mother and Baby in Bath" charcoal on paper by Justin Canha
“The Intense World Syndrome,” as described by Makram et al. (2007), hypothesizes that individuals with autism spectrum disorders have excessive, rather than diminished, cognitive functioning. The authors describe the phenomena of “hyper-perception, hyper-attention and hyper-memory” that may manifest clinically, for example, as acute sensitivity to noise, excessive focus on detail and impressive ability to memorize certain details. The theory proposes that individuals with autism have very intense perception of fragments of the sensory world with very clear and persistent attention to the detail. The theory proposes that there is an excess of neuronal information processing and storage in local microcircuits of the brain. They conclude that that these circuits are hyper-reactive and extremely plastic, driving the development of new learning, the formation of intense memories and often exceptional skill for a particular task. The negative consequence of this form of cognitive style is the marked restriction of behavioral responses to stimuli in the environment.
How is this all relevant to the development of Justin’s artistic ability? His desire to draw was first evident in early childhood, at a time when his ability to communicate was hampered by his language delay. His cognitive ability at that time was very difficult to assess and his repetitive stereotypic drawing could easily have been seen as interfering with his development and the acquisition of important social and language skills. However, given the encouragement and reinforcement of those around him and the opportunity to develop his drawing skill, he responded by rapidly expanding his skill, showing a keen eye for visual details and an ability to focus for sustained periods of time. He was drawn to novel subject matter and media, thus expanding his knowledge of how to draw and developing his artistic skills. Justin’s pattern of learning and his response to environmental stimulation, appear to reflect this exaggerated brain plasticity, as hypothesized.
Maria Teresa and Briant hope that Justin will someday live independently in their hometown of Montclair, NJ, a community that now knows him well and admires his work. They hope that Justin’s talent will continue to allow him to grow as a person, and foster his future social life, friendships and happiness. This is the wish of all parents whose children are faced with the challenges of a life with autism.
