›› White Noise
One of the tell-tale
signs of autism is the person’s isolation from other people.
The word “autistic” comes from the word
“autos” meaning “self.”
Autistic people do not respond to others and they often appear to be
deaf because they do not respond appropriately to sounds. Brain
researchers have discovered that the autistic person’s lack
of a response may be due to white noise.
Autistic people have nervous systems that do not seem to be wired
properly. They do not know what to pay attention to and what to filter
out of their locus of attention. Many verbal autistic people describe a
sound that prevents them from hearing the sounds in their environment.
This white noise seems to interfere with the person’s ability
to process sounds properly.
White noise may be the reason that many autistic people do not process
spoken language very well. They have difficulty understanding spoken
words and the words often seem to blend together into one stream of
sound. Since the person is constantly hearing a humming or static
sound, he is unable to focus in on words. Many autistic people have
difficulty hearing words when they are used in sentences. A sentence
may sound like one long word to an autistic person because white noise
is interfering with the person’s interpretation of the
sentence.
I worked with a little girl who could not tell the difference between
words that begin with the letter W. This can be very troublesome and
even a little dangerous. To her, the words, “wait”
and “want” were the same. I would tell her to wait
and she would use sign language to ask for a cookie or a treat. I would
simply say, “Nope” and prompt her to wait. I
didn’t know that she thought I was asking her what she
wanted. She would become extremely frustrated and she would often have
a tantrum out of frustration. This interfered with our progress in
therapy.
It wasn’t until I read about white noise as a factor in
autism that I made the connection. It seems that the similarities
between the words “want” and
“wait” would be obvious, but I never really noticed
how closely the words resembled each other until I considered the
obstacles the little girl faced while trying to understand what I was
saying.
No one is positive that all autistic people hear white noise and no one
is sure if they hear it continuously. Until we can find a way
to effectively communicate with all autistic individuals, we will not
be sure. Another thing to consider is whether we can redirect a person
who hears white noise. There may be no intervention that can overcome
that obstacle. However, the more we come to understand white noise in
relation to autism, the more we can determine how to manage
it.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
