A Different Way of Thinking: Autism

🧠What is Autism? 

Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how the brain develops and processes information. The term “spectrum” is key here because Autism does not look the same for everyone. Behavior-wise, autistic people may be more talkative or quiet. Some may love routines while others enjoy following the flow. There is no one specific category for Autism. Autism has a wide range of experiences, unique to each individual. 

Diving into the relationship with the brain, autistic brains have some differences in their structure and neural connectivity. Structurally, autistic brains have been found to have increased folding in specific brain lobe regions (Rossi, 2022). These foldings, also known as gyrification, can allow more space for more neurons to be packed within those brain lobe regions. Depending on the brain lobe region this occurs at, the function of the specific lobe may be enhanced or disrupted, possibly influencing the processing pathway to other brain regions. From the perspective of neural connectivity, “PET scans reveal fewer synapses in autistic brains” (Backman, 2024). This means the brain has fewer connections between neurons that deliver information signals to other parts of the brain. So, pathways of relaying signals may be limited or weaker in comparison. Connecting these concepts together, brain regions with more foldings may have stronger local connections within the region but weaker long-distance connections to other brain regions. This influences how information is relayed throughout the brain, depending on the different neural connectivity between different brain lobe regions.  

🌎How the Autistic Brain Experiences the World 

One key aspect of autism is how the brain handles sensory input. Putting this into perspective, imagine your brain as a filter. For many people, the filter helps tune out background noises so that the person can focus in on the specific sounds they are listening to. But in autism, this filter works differently, sometimes letting in more information than expected or necessary. This can lead to the brain's sensory input being overloaded. This includes visual overload, color overload, movement overload, sound overload, smell overload, light overload… These components are the information that the brain receives and interprets. Due to heightened awareness in their environment, the brain may process this information slightly differently when communicating to other brain regions. A common stereotype linked to this aspect is the view of being “too sensitive.” But it should not be categorized this way; instead, this is more about the brain receiving and interpreting signals in a unique way. 

💬Social Interaction & Communication 

Humans are social creatures, where interacting and communicating with other humans is beneficial to ourselves and part of our everyday lives. This process of socializing seems automatic as we do it on a daily basis, but it actually involves complex brain systems working together to interpret social cues. In autistic individuals, these interactions can feel more like active thinking rather than being automatic responses. People’s tone, facial expression, and timing are components that can be more challenging to interpret and take a longer time to possibly recognize those factors. Sometimes, this makes the interaction feel like solving a puzzle in real time, needing more time to process and react to the conversation. This is a different processing style within the brain. 

Now, autistic individuals can have unique advantages that come from their differences in brain structure that shape their experiences. For example, autistic individuals may have stronger attention to detail, deep focus on interest, good pattern recognition, and strong memory in specific areas, etc… These strengths are often linked to how the brain processes information more deeply or selectively, allowing autistic individuals to have more focus in those areas. 

🤍A Note on Respect & Understanding

As we learn about autism, language and mindset matter. Autism is part of a person’s identity and how they experience the world. Just like how we want to be treated, please treat everyone with respect and kindness. 

References

Autism Speaks. (2025). Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism Speaks. https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism

Backman, I. (2024, October 15). A Key Brain Difference Linked to Autism Is Found for the First Time in Living People. Yale School of Medicine. https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/a-key-brain-difference-linked-to-autism-is-found-for-the-first-time-in-living-people/

David, B. (2024, January 23). Understanding and Supporting Autistic Behaviors - New Concepts For Living. New Concepts for Living. https://ncfl.net/understanding-and-supporting-autistic-behaviors/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23691526966&gbraid=0AAAAAoI-sOMKtE4ENPwl9toIlo2UFYhKp&gclid=CjwKCAjwhLPOBhBiEiwA8_wJHABazco1h2eJZE9wnjBfKjSBhLJb1hIP536ii8dqzM25QviGjiE-VhoCEVYQAvD_BwE

Rossi, C. (2022, November 29). Autism Spectrum Disorder: Autistic Brains vs Non-Autistic Brains. Www.healthcentral.com. https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/autism/autism-brain-differences

Williams, L. (2024, July). What Is Sensory Overload? The Autism Service. The Autism Service. https://theautismservice.co.uk/what-is-sensory-overload/