Autism and the Inferior Colliculus, Book 2: Language, Brain, and Iatrogenic Peril

Autism will be fully understood (and preventable) only when the brain impairment that prevents normal development of language and social interactions is known. This understanding should have been realized decades ago based on evidence about blood flow and metabolism in the brain, and how etiological factors associated with autism can be damaging to the highly active nuclei in the auditory pathway. Evidence is discussed in this book that the inferior colliculi (metabolically the most active nuclei in the brain) are important for environmental vigilance, and for decoding of syllable and word boundaries and other acoustic features required for comprehension of spoken language.