2. What We Know

The exact cause is unknown. Although research suggests the likelihood of a genetic basis, there is no known genetic etiology and brain imaging techniques have not identified a clear common pathology. There is no single treatment and the effectiveness of particular interventions is supported by only limited data.

James C. McPartland and Ami Klin

Science likes to look at the brain, and it likes to be rational. We have grown up with science and the thinking that the brain is in charge, that we are rational human beings with rational brains. We like to think we are clever. We like to think we are much cleverer than the beasts.

It is nice to be clever and rational, but isn’t there something missing in the picture?

Now, animals are smart. They think, they nurture, they love, they interact, and they can communicate across vast distances (like elephants and dolphins). They, like us, have a wonderful nervous system that allows them to see and hear and adapt and interact. Animals have a huge intelligence, as animals. You try being hunted by a lion and see who’s clever!

Like lions and tigers and iguanas and dolphins and elephants, we humans also have a nervous system. We need our nervous system to survive. Our nervous system helps us to see and hear; it helps us to move, to run and to fight. Our nervous system informs our brain; it takes in information and tells us what’s going on and it attunes us to our world. It is our other intelligence and we share it with all other animals. We humans are lucky; we can do all that animals can, and we can speak, drive a car and fire a gun.

So our human brains are more complex; we are clever. We humans like to be clever, we like to be the most clever – better than all the animals – and so we have put a lot of emphasis on the importance of our brains. This is good, as our brains are very special: they can create, they can think up all sorts of wonderful things. But are they everything? When it comes to understanding people, most people think so.

So our brains are the best and we have become very good at being in charge of them. We have become very good at ‘mind over matter’. We have learnt to be in control of ourselves, to use the power of the mind, and this is what we teach.

Our approach to autism is the same. We look at it as a brain problem, then we manage behaviour, we train behaviour, we train mindfulness…but we all know this doesn’t quite work. There is something missing.

Now, autists are generally really smart. They might not be able to communicate this to you – their tongue may get tied, or they may not be able to speak much at all – but they are still in there, thinking, creating and designing with their wonderful brains. So if it’s not the brain…