Prior to AIT, all five individuals had abnormal auditory P300 activity, indicating problems. Three subjects with autism participated in the experimental AIT group and two others participated in a placebo group. (1999) examined auditory P300 activity prior to and three months following auditory integration training (AIT).
(The ‘P’ refers to the positive polarity of the brain wave.) The P300 is associated with cognitive processing, and this brain wave is considered an indication of long-term memory retrieval (Donchin, Ritter, & McCallum, 1978). The P300 brain wave occurs 300 milliseconds after the presentation of a stimulus. Sometimes the lack of speech comprehension is interpreted by others as an unwillingness to comply, when in fact the person simply isn’t able to retrieve the meaning at that moment.Įric Courchesne, Ph.D., of the Neurosciences Department, University of California at San Diego, has found significant impairments in auditory processing in autistic individuals using P300 brain wave technology (see Courchesne, 1987 for a review). For example, if someone says the word ‘shoe,’ the person might hear the sound clearly, but doesn’t understand the meaning.
One problem occurs when a person hears speech sounds but does not perceive the meaning of the sounds. Processing auditory information is a critical component of social communication, and people with autism spectrum disorders typically have problems processing this information. Autism is sometimes described as a social/communication problem.
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