Whirling and Postural Control in Schizophrenic Children

Rachman, S.; Beroer, M.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1963.tb02117.x

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Rachman and Berger [23] confirmed the report of abnormal amounts of self-initiated spinning. Autistic children frequently twirl themselves but do not get dizzy.…”

Section: Twirlingmentioning

confidence: 58%

A psychopathogenesis of autism

Ney

1979

Child Psych Hum Dev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT" It is possible that autistic children are not neurophysiologieally abnormal but children with hearing hyperacuity, born into an environment that cannot adapt to them. If so, to them, human sounds are not soothing but frightening. Environmental noises do not arouse curiosity but hurt so much the child withdraws. Because of self-imposed isolation, the child's brain hungers for stimulation, increasing the level of arousal which results in an anxietyevoking experience of sound in addition to pain. Parents mistake the withdrawal as a signal tbr them to tl3' to communicate more vigorously thereby increasing the child's fear of them. Parents eventually lem'n to remain cool and aloof but this deprives the child of alternate forms of stimulation. The net result is an information-det)rived brain, an inability to interpret auditory symbols and, eventually, irreversible retardation.In the search for the etiology of childhood primary autism, some consideration should be given to the possibility that there is essentially nothing abnormal. Is it not possible that autistic children do not have a neurophysiological deficit but a hypersensitivity that makes it impossible for them to adapt to this sensorially jarring world?Since intelligence has a Gaussian distribution, it is highly probable that the neurological components of intelligence have the same distribution. A very small percentage of children will have sensory acuities well beyond the mean. Those children with sensitive hearing would find their environment so cacophonous that the only adaptive response would be to withdraw and not engage in any behavior such as communicating that would evoke more auditory discomfort.

show abstract

“…Rachman and Berger [23] confirmed the report of abnormal amounts of self-initiated spinning. Autistic children frequently twirl themselves but do not get dizzy.…”

Section: Twirlingmentioning

confidence: 58%