strokes and autism

I'm just finishing an amazing and easy to read book "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor. In her descriptions of her disabilities from the stroke, I am so aware of the similarities between the stroke victim and a person with autism. 

Jill Bolte Taylor was a Harvard trained brain scientist who, at only thirty seven, had a massive stroke that effected the left hemisphere of her brain. With her neuroanatomy background, Dr. Taylor is able to describe her inabilities during her slow recovery - but also her new insights, not available to her before her stroke. She describes not being able to talk, but being able to sing, difficulty retrieving words, but tuning into other's emotional state. The biggest difference here is that persons like Dr. Taylor have a wealth of life time experiences upon which to draw during their recovery (when recovery is likely). Whereas a person with autism is either too young when the autism strikes or never is able to develop or understand a cognitive awareness of his/her surroundings.

The most striking thing, though, in Dr. Taylor's description of being on the "right" side of her brain, is the feeling of Nirvana she had; feeling one with the universe, like "fluid.....and in flow with everything around me." She found when she didn't tune into the left hemisphere's "brain chatter', she was able to see a completely different world, filling her with inner peace. She also described her focus on the present, and how every moment she had was rich with experience and existed in complete isolation. She notes how as each new moment happened, the "details of the past lingered in an image or a feeling, but quickly disappeared." The Zen like experiences of our students come to mind, and their contentment to be in "their own world". I thought of Clara Claiborne Park's book "Exiting Nirvana" about her daughter with autism, essentially describing the same thing, and even using the word "Nirvana". We know the students with autism prefer to lapse into reverie, and drawing them out can be anxiety provoking. 

This book was well worth reading for anyone who works with people with autism - it is encouraging to hear about the plasticity and resiliency of the brain, but also in Dr. Taylor's arduous recovery, she describes how she was able to overcome some of the very similar disabilities as we see with autism.