Wow, Sparteye, thanks for that wonderful post! Weird things, our brains. I did know that autism in females is rare. I am glad that your son is as high-functioning as he is. I once read--can't recall where--about a girl who was
diagnosed and treated as autistic into her teens. Somehow she made it known that her hearing was not only hypersensitive but boundary-free, too: light rain outside the window was so loud to her that she was unable to concentrate on what someone in the room was saying. She was given a series of desensitization and training sessions, and reportedly could then process information in a normal manner--as far as her neurological functions went.
But she had gone for so many years being unable to interact normally with people that she continued to have difficulty with this for a long time.
Michael Gazzaniga has concluded that the human brain is organized in terms of a ‘mental society.’ In other words, alongside our verbal system, there may reside any number of ‘mental units [that] can exist, can have memories, values, and emotions, and all of these can be expressed through any of a variety of response systems.’ What makes this whole process so eerie is that these systems may not be in touch with the verbal system at all but rather, have their own existence outside of the areas of our brain responsible for our language and our logic."
Whoa, that is creepy! It sets me to wondering first, what these parallel mental units might have in them, and secondly, what forms of expression do they take, if not verbal? We have had a couple of interesting discussions here about thinking in pictures; I wonder if this is the sort of thing Mr. Gazzaniga has in mind. (Ooh, I just made a terrible pun and didn't even mean to!) I guess speech isn't always necessary, but it sure comes in handy.
