The National Association for Autism Research (NAAR) is one of many autism organizations that funds research. Sponsored research is in “genetics, early diagnosis and intervention, neurotoxicology, immunology, language & communication, molecular & cellular biology, neuroanatomy and neuroimaging, epidemiological studies, and behavioral sciences”; two projects that stand out to me are on “music processing and central coherence theory” (Daniel Levitin of McGill University) and on the prevalence of autism in school-aged children in Korea (Roy Grinker, The George Washington University).
One topic I would much like to see is autism and the weather.
I’m not the only parent who has noted a close connection between, for instance, a change in the barometric pressure and a “very autistic day” of self-stimulatory behaviors like humming and repetitive speech, sudden bouts of crying, general grumpiness:
I don’t think there has been any “official scientific research” on this, but Jim and I have often noted that a change in the barometric pressure–as when a storm is gathering in the sky, all gray thundering clouds and moisture accruing in the air–seems to occur parallel with a behavioral squall in Charlie.
As a child, autistic adult and painter Jessica Park designated a day as bad or good based on how many clouds were in the sky (this “system” is described in Clara Clariborne Park’s Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism). Jessy Park’s fascination with the weather is noted by the neurologist Oliver Sacks in the film The Mind Traveler. A similar weather-obsession is observed in an adolescent boy who talks in avid detail about tornadoes and funnel clouds.
Any doctoral candidates in need of a dissertation topic?
[...] falls and the humidity rises; as a rainstorm, and especially a thunderstorm, is brewing? As the weather changes? Tags: anxiety, asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, correlation, disabilities blog, [...]
Wow! I’m so glad I found this website in a Google search. I’m a 55-yr old female with clinical depression, no autism, and there is none in my family history that I know of. But this barometric pressure thing has me tied in knots here in south-central Texas, and it starts several days before the effects of a hurricane from the south, or a storm from the north finally reaches us. I’m originally from Missouri and have lived in Georgia and in other towns in Texas at higher elevations and never had this problem before, until the past 20 years that I’ve spent here, just south of San Antnio. It makes me lose my temper, my concentration and my toleralce of all situations until the storm finally hits, then it’s such a relief, it’s nearly euphoric! Thanks to you all for your input! I wish you all the best.
[...] Saturday and I suggested a trip to the YMCA pool. There’s a long-running association between changes in barometric pressure and Charlie having “thunderstorm” moments of unhappiness, of seeming unsettled and with [...]
Correction! I gave my son Motrin, instead of Tylenol, so it was a form of anti-inflammatory, which Tylenol is not. Sorry!
I just put this together for my autistic son, while in the process of trying to see if weather patterns caused an increase in my other son’s blood pressures (my other little guy has chd). My autistic son had a really rough day at school in combo with a major thunderstorm slowly moving into the area. The latest research on autism points towards a ‘neuroinflammatory’ component – inflammation in the brain being the possible reason for greater sensory issues and possibly pain during pressure changes. It makes perfect sense to me that our kids might have a reaction to the weather like so many people suffering from joint inflammations do. If the inflammatory fluid(or whatever) is expanding due to the air pressure drop, it would have an obvious effect of increasing symptoms. A solution, other than pain medication, which might help, is some sort of anti-inflammatory. I’ve given him tylenol for pain, which helped a little, but he’s still “off.” I’m hoping an extra dose of cod liver oil might help, as the Omega fats can help with inflammation, but am not sure that alone would do enough.
It’s been getting warmer here in New Jersey and I can feel the air pressure changing; seems to bring on some kind of unsettled-ness in Charlie. Swimming helps.
Well, it never rains in Southern California but my son Matthew looks out the window more on cloudy and rainy days. He notices when an umbrella is out and goes straight to the window. This week thus far has been dark and gloomy. Just a week ago it was in the 90s and now not even in the mid 60s.
I also see changes the week preceeding time changes twice a year and write this down in notebook during those periods so I know what might be the underlying problem.
I was doing a google search on barometric pressure and it brought me here. Guess I should have checked your site search first.
@Hope,
My son regularly is agitated and just seem less comfortable on cloudy days and especially the day before it rains. He often tries to comfort himself by wrapping himself in a fleece blanket and seems to need deep pressure. He’s been trying to learn to look out the window and say what the weather is, hasn’t gotten this yet. Hoping for clear and sunny days your way.
I have found that my son , Avery, gets very easily aggitated on cloudy and rainy days. He constantly goes to the windows and looks out to see if the clouds are gone. Once the weather clears he is fine but those winy days during bad waether take a toll on my psyche.
Our son has PDD-NOS. He does the repetitive movements of running around and jumping when someone is not engaging him. Usually it is pretty easy to keep him engaged. But when the weather gets nice he really gets “jumpy”. He will even jump as he is falling asleep and will leave a loved activity to do the jumping.
But again, how do we relieve the pressure. If it was the opposite problem I know how to apply presure. But if the pressure is truly causing the extra jumping I am at a loss as to how to ease the discomfort.
Charlie often has some tense and anxious times in the hours before it rains (esp. if it is a big storm). for Charlie, it is not the “calm before the storm” but something very disconcerting.
He just seems very attuned to changes in the pressure and air quality, if I may say so. We now live up in the mountains (not exactly the Sierra Nevadas—this is New Jersey)—while we used to be at sea level. And there is a noticeable different in the way the air feels (crisper, if I may say so); it is cooler (nights especially) and there is more snow. It seems to suit Charlie very much.
We used to think it was related to Nik’s chronic ear infections. Since those seem to have cleared up, (for now!)I’ve started to really pay attention to the weather. We keep one of those little “weather station” thingies in his room so we can look at the trends in bar. pressure. Not that it helps mitigate the rough spots any…
These are the times I usually break down and let Nik watch his favorite movie, Mary Poppins, repeatedly as he loves certain spots and laughs outloud o matter what’s going on around him.
I also end up giving him som tylenol or advil (depends on how bad the day’s been) before bed…he definitely feels *something* in his head on these days and rubs and bangs his head much more than other days.
Wow! I thought I was the only one who noticed a correlation between my son’s behaviour and the weather. I have definitely noticed that he has much more disturbed sleep and is alot grumpier in the morning when there has been a change. For example if we’ve had a patch of good weather and then it changes to clouds and rain…look out! Not fun! I would be very interested to hear more about this.
Laura
These suggestions will seem obvious, I’m sure and I’d like much to know what you’ve tried, too. I mentally prepare myself on those days when the weather changes—-make sure that Charlie has more access to his sensory system. He often seems to need to wrap himself (and especially his hands) in fleece blankets and squishy balls more at these times—–also, I trye hard to keep him structured with activities in the house, and especially physical exercise. (Which is not easy in rainy weather, to be sure!) I will post more as I think of things and, again, would more appreicate hearing about things that you have tried.
Okay, so we know that changes in the weather affect our autistic kids (and even the rest of us). My question is, what, if anything, can we do about it? My son is 21 and has a history of being aggressive. We’ve noticed that when the weather is changing, we see much more anxiety and aggressive behavior. I’ve tried giving him sinus and pain meds, per his doctor(s) suggestions, but don’t see much in the way of true help. Any suggestions out there?
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[...] This kind of weather when the barometric pressure rises tends to be hard on Charlie. His speech–and perhaps his thinking? his cognitive processing?–is less clear on these kinds of days, his movements sluggish. [...]
It’s not just autism spectrum folks that have behavior changes with the weather — I’ve noticed (insofar that I have the capacity to notice at the time!) that a number of people around here (Texas) are really dragging on rainy days. And they can’t all be autistic – I know one person fairly well, well enough to say, no, she’s not autistic, and she was really, really draggy on rainy days when we worked together.
I have noticed myself and my autistic son having problems in some kinds of weather. (I think my daughter is more likely to have problems in those weather conditions, as well, but I haven’t had as much opportunity to observe that in her, as she hasn’t been around quite as long as he has. I’ll have a much better idea about her in, oh, say, 28 months.)
Both very good!
The topic would lend itself well to interdisciplinary study, in psychology, many fields of science, literature, history, and more.
That sounds like a good dissertation.
What about a BA or MA thesis, though?