NEWSHOUR BOOKSHELF - Memoir "Switched On"

"The shocking experience of finally seeing the full spectrum of emotion" PBS NewsHour 4/27/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  A medical procedure used to diagnose damage from brain injuries may also help some autistic patients make connections and understand emotions they’ve never experienced.  Author John Robison underwent that experimental therapy, detailed in a new memoir, “Switched On.” Hari Sreenivasan talks with Robison about his experience.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  In the latest NewsHour Bookshelf conversation, a look into a potential new treatment for autism.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, can be used to diagnose damage from brain injuries and disorders.  But a new study investigates whether the therapy can help some autistic patients make connections and understand emotions they have never experienced.

I recently spoke with one such patient.

John Robison, thanks so much for joining us.

So, first, let’s start with, what is transcranial magnetic stimulation, and why did you decide to participate in this research?

JOHN ELDER ROBISON, Author, “Switched On”:  It’s a therapy where they use focused bursts of electromagnetic energy to transmit tiny amounts of electricity through the scalp and through the skull, and into your brain.

Your brain’s an electrical organ, so if you want to change how it functions, you can change it most directly with targeted electricity.  When I heard that there was a study that might help autistic people like me see emotional cues in other people, the idea of it just spoke to the heart of something that I felt had been a disability in me all my life, being unable to read body language and expressions and cues in other people.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  So, you describe this.  I want to quote a paragraph.

It says: “Imagine that, all your life, you have seen the world in black and white.  Meanwhile, everyone around you describes the beauty and richness of color.  After a while, their talk of color frustrates you.  Which do you believe, their words or the evidence before your eyes?”

So did you get a glimpse of color?

JOHN ELDER ROBISON:  Absolutely.

That’s really the transformative thing about this.  You can be an intelligent adult, and all your life, you hear about color, and yet eventually you start getting angry because the evidence in your eyes is gray.

And then imagine the doctor does something and they turn on color for half-an-hour.  And even if color goes away, for the rest of your life, you’re going to know it’s real.  And that’s kind of how it is for me.  They stimulated me, and it was a temporary thing.

The effects lasted for some months, I would say.  Some of them faded away quickly, some longer.  And that built an ability that’s in me today based on that real experience.  And it’s something words and teaching and talk could never have achieved.

SPORTS - Technology to Prevent Brain Trauma

"Can a helmet sensor help prevent brain trauma in athletes?" PBS Newshour 3/17/2015

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SUMMARY:  As we learn more about the effects of concussions and sports-related head trauma, parents, coaches and medical professionals are debating how to keep players safe.  Some are looking to technology, like a device worn under the helmet that shows the force of impact after a fall or collision.  Hari Sreenivasan reports as part of our Breakthroughs series.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Next, the risk of concussions in sports and trying to lower those odds.

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland shocked the pro football world yesterday by announcing his decision to retire from the game after a strong rookie season.  Borland, who is 24 years old and was expected to earn more than a half-million dollars next season, told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” he was concerned about head trauma from repeated hits.

CHRIS BORLAND, Former NFL Player:  It was just kind of the realization.  I had just started my professional career.  And am I going to go down this road?  Am I going to commit the prime of my life to something that could ultimately be detrimental to my health?  And that just kind of triggered my thinking and changed the way I viewed the risks.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Borland becomes the most prominent player to leave the game in his prime based on those risks.

But worries are also growing among many parents of younger athletes and kids playing sports.  It turns out researchers are looking into whether electronics can make sports safer.

Hari Sreenivasan reports on new innovations for brain safety on the playing field.  It’s part of our continuing series on Breakthroughs.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Contact sports like hockey can be brutal; 19-year-old Oliver Bech-Hansen describes getting hit so hard, he lost his memory.

OLIVER BECH-HANSEN:  I just couldn’t remember everything.  It took me a couple weeks before I finally — I slowly started remembering things that happened.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  As the spotlight on concussions and head trauma intensifies, parents, coaches, and medical professionals are debating how to keep players safe, and some are looking to technology.

The Jersey Wildcats, a league of 16-to-20-year-olds, have been experimenting with a head impact device donated by Reebok.  The device, called Checklight, is worn under the helmet and features an LED light on the back of the neck that flashes if a player takes a big blow.