A recent article in Medium describes autism from a different angle, based on research on the Valproic Acid (VPA) rat model conducted in Henry Markram’s Lab by Tania Rinaldi Barkat and Kamila Markram. The paper beautifully links their personal experience with autism with scientific results obtained in their lab.
In addition to describing Tania’s joys and frustrations at the beginning of her PhD in Neuroscience, it also illustrates a clear link between autistic symptoms and the critical periods for plasticity described in mammalian development.
A highly recommended read, only 32-minutes long according to Medium.
The German translation of the article was published in Die Zeit on September 21, 2014.