Saturday, July 24, 2010

Stroke/Autism

One of the books on my summer reading list for school is "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. It's a fascinating account of Dr. Taylor's recovery from a stroke. Dr. Taylor is a neuroanatomist and recounts with much detail from the very beginning of her stroke through her recovery.

Why I'm posting about this is because I can't help but notice the similarities between how she explains her brain during and shortly-after the stroke and how adults with autism have explained their own brains. Thinking in pictures, having to go through "files" to remember things in their own mind, knowing what they want to say but unable to form the words, hearing, seeing, and feeling more of the sensory inputs from the environment.

She talks about how to get from A to C she had to realize there was a step B in the middle that needed to be reached first. Sound familiar to anyone? She says that sometimes it was hard for her to concentrate on her recovery because all of a sudden she was at one with her environment. She actually felt a sense of tranquility. Many times I have watched Brian lie on the couch, looking into the air, smiling and laughing. I have often felt he sees the world in a much more soothing, happier light than I do. It took her longer to process language and needed people around her to speak slower (not louder) and clearer. So many similarities.

The medical world is still such a mystery.

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