MANAS Learning

 Every week, I sit across from parents who pull out crumpled notes, their phones filled with videos, and carefully documented observations about their child. "Am I seeing things that aren't there?" they ask. "Or am I missing something important?" These questions reflect the delicate balance parents walk when monitoring their child's development—the fear of both overreacting and overlooking something significant. The truth is, parental intuition combined with informed observation is one of the most powerful tools we have for early identification of autism. You don't need a degree in psychology to recognise patterns; you simply need to know what patterns to look for.  This comprehensive checklist emerges from years of clinical work, research, and most importantly, from listening to parents describe what they noticed first, what made them pause, and what kept them up at night, wondering. It's designed not to create anxiety but to ...

Why Autism Isn’t Something That Needs a “Cure” As a clinical psychologist who has worked with autistic individuals and their families for many years, one of the most common—and emotionally charged—questions I hear is: “Can autism be cured?” The short answer is no . Autism is not curable—and importantly, it is not something that should be cured. However, this answer deserves far more nuance than a simple yes or no. The idea that autism can or should be cured reflects widespread misunderstandings about what autism actually is. In this article, I’ll unpack the science, challenge common myths, and reframe autism in a way that is accurate, compassionate, and aligned with the voices of autistic people themselves. Understanding Autism: Why It Isn’t “Curable” To understand why autism cannot be cured, we first need to understand what autism is—and what it isn’t. Autism is not : A disease An illness that develops after birth An infection or injury A chemical imbalance that can be corrected Auti...

Early Intervention in Autism: Why the Earliest Years Matter Most As a clinical psychologist who has witnessed the transformative power of early intervention, I cannot overstate how profoundly the first few years of a child's life matter when it comes to autism. The brain during infancy and early childhood is experiencing its most dynamic period of growth and change, forming millions of neural connections every second and establishing the foundational networks that will support all future learning. This remarkable plasticity—the brain's ability to reorganise and form new connections—is precisely why early intervention can make such a significant difference in the developmental trajectory of autistic children. When parents ask me why we emphasise early intervention so strongly, I explain that we're working with the brain at its most flexible moment. During the first five years of life, neural pathways are still being established and refined. Experiences during this period lit...

For decades, autism has been framed through the lens of deficits and impairments. We spoke of communication deficits, social impairments, and restricted behaviors as though something fundamental was missing or broken in the autistic brain. However, modern neuroscience is revolutionizing our understanding, revealing a far more nuanced and fascinating picture. Autism isn't about missing pieces or broken circuits. Instead, it represents a fundamentally different pattern of neural connectivity and information processing. The autistic brain isn't deficient—it's differently wired, with some neural pathways underconnected, others hyperconnected, and information flowing through networks in unique ways that create both extraordinary strengths and significant challenges. The Connectivity Difference: A Brain Wired Differently At the heart of autism's neurological profile lies what neuroscientists call atypical connectivity. Our brains contain approximately 86 billion neurons, ea...