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Introduction and Development: Impairments in language and communication are a defining feature of autism spectrum disorders. There is significant variability in linguistic abilities in autism spectrum disorders. They have difficulties with certain aspects of language such as semantics functions, syntax, prosody and phonology, although the most evident language deficits concern to pragmatics functioning. These language difficulties can cause serious problems in social interaction., Conclusions: The neural bases underlying this failure to develop language are unknown. Several functional and structural imaging studies have identified irregularities in language-related regions in autism spectrum disorders, such as morphometric differences in Broca's area and Wernicke's area, and patterns of reduced or reversed laterality in frontal and temporal cortex. There is also decreased functional connectivity between anterior and posterior language regions.

Introduction and Development: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterised by the alteration of three basic areas of behaviour, qualitative alterations in reciprocal social interaction, qualitative alterations in communication and patterns of behaviour, and stereotyped, repetitive and restrictive activities and interests. Specific language impairment (SLI) is a disorder in which language is slow and retarded with respect to the patient's chronological age, and which is not related to a sensory-auditory or motor deficit or to a pervasive developmental disorder. In both disorders, epilepsy has an important role. Dr. Muñoz Yunta's researches were focused in studying ASD and SLI using magnetoencephalography in order to look for epileptiform activity in precise cerebral areas., Conclusions: Patients with ASD showed specific epileptiform activity predominantly distributed in the perisylvian areas. In patients with Asperger's syndrome, epileptiform activity was mostly found in the right hemisphere. In patients with autism, no lateralized epileptiform activity was observed, although there was predominant activity in the left hemisphere. Subclinical epileptiform activity was found in the perisylvian areas in patients with ASD. Patients with SLI displayed epileptiform activity in the frontal and middle temporal regions of both hemispheres. Magnetoencephalography can be used to distinguish between patients with ASD and patients with SLI.

Objective: To provide further data around magnetoencephalographic (MEG) findings in early-onset autism spectrum disorders (ASD)., Methods: Thirty-six children (mean age 7 years) diagnosed of PDD (DSM-IV, ICD-10) were studied. There were 22 children with autistic disorder, 9 with Asperger's syndrome, and 5 with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). According to the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), the autistic disorder was mild to moderate in 11, and severe in 11. Neuroimaging studies using three-dimensional MRI as well as simultaneous MEG-EEG and fusion techniques through magnetic source imaging (MSI) were performed, with the aid of anesthesia in non-cooperative patients., Results: Most patients had no EEG abnormalities. All ASD children showed common specific abnormalities in the shape of low amplitude monophasic and biphasic spikes (isolated or short bursts) as well as acute waves, predominantly distributed in the perisylvian areas. In Asperger's syndrome, epileptiform spikes were mostly found in the right hemisphere. No lateralized epileptiform activity was observed in non-Asperger's autistic patients., Conclusions: MEG epileptiform activity is frequently documented in children with early-onset ASD., Significance: Subclinical epileptiform activity is present especially in the perisylvian regions for many patients with ASD.

Introduction: The rate of epilepsy in autism is higher than in other developmental disorders and estimates point to a frequency range of between 7% and 42%. Between 40% and 47% of autistic children suffer from clinical epilepsy. Onset of epilepsy may occur at any age., Development: During the ontogenesis of the nervous system, if the maturing process is upset by some epileptogenic phenomenon, the consequences on the consolidation of the emerging cognitive functions can be severe. Epileptiform discharges can occur although clinical seizures are absent, but nevertheless they still have an effect on the maturing process. Between 10% and 50% of autistic children undergo a regression of acquired behaviour following a period of normal development. The absence of clinical seizures during regression does not rule out the epileptogenic origin of the regressive process., Conclusions: The relation between pervasive developmental disorders and epilepsy, epileptiform activity and subclinical seizures can be explained from a neurobiological point of view, on the one hand, by an imbalance between the excitatory system -glutamate- and the inhibitory system -gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)- in key points in the cerebral cortex and, on the other, by means of molecular genetic studies and studies of candidate genes (FOXP2, WNT2, subunits of GABA receptors, neuroligins, ARX, SCN1A, SCN2A, MECP2, CDKL5 and DLX5).

Introduction: Pragmatics refers to the social use of language; its precursors are already present during the process of maturing, during the preverbal stage, and become manifest when the child starts to point and to share his or her attention with another person. In cases of specific language impairment (SLI) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) it can be altered to varying degrees., Patients and Methods: Due to the difficulties involved in diagnosis from a clinical point of view, we carried out a study by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG) on a series of 11 patients who had SLI and another series of 9 patients with ASD, in order to determine whether MEG is capable of distinguishing these diagnoses., Results: Patients with SLI displayed pathological activity in the frontal and middle temporal regions of both hemispheres. Patients with ASD showed pathological activity in the perisylvian area. Expressive-receptive SLI with pragmatic language disorder showed pathological activity that was similar to that seen in autism., Conclusion: MEG can be used to distinguish between SLI and ASD by studying the epileptiform activity that occurs in pervasive developmental disorders. MEG helps us to understand the continuum that exists between SLI or expressive-receptive SLI and autism.

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorders cover a continuum of disorders ranging from severe autism to mild autism and Asperger's syndrome. They are considered to be a subgroup of the pervasive development disorders and are characterised by the alteration of three basic areas of behaviour, qualitative alterations in reciprocal social interaction, qualitative alterations in communication and patterns of behaviour, and stereotyped, repetitive and restrictive activities and interests. These alterations are expressed to a greater or lesser degree depending on the level of severity of the disorder and can be detected and quantified by clinical instruments such as the ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised) and the CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale). AIMS. Our aim was to establish a relationship between the specific behavioural characteristics of autism (evaluated by ADI-R and CARS) and brain structures and functions., Patients and Methods: The sample was made up of 10 subjects (9 boys and 1 girl) diagnosed with pervasive development disorder., Results: We obtained statistically significant Spearman correlations between the ADI-R item restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviour patterns and the area of the right inferior precentral gyrus. A positive correlation was also found between the item for abnormality or apparent deviation in development before the age of 36 months and the right supramarginal gyrus area, while the correlation was negative between the former and the left postcentral gyrus. There was also a significant correlation between the number of perisylvian areas and epileptiform activity and qualitative incapacity in communication on the ADI-R, and some items on the CARS with areas of the perisylvian zone., Conclusions: Our findings confirm the relation between functional alterations of the different areas that make up the perisylvian region and the distinct behavioural features that define and characterise autism.

Autism is a rare disease, but is currently in vogue. An incidence of 1/1,000 has been estimated for early childhood autism, but in autism spectrum the incidence can reach 30/1,000. The clinical characteristics of autism are cognitive language disorders, lack of social interaction, obsessive behaviours with stereotypic movements and epilepsy. For some authors it is an associated symptom while for others it is a cardinal symptom of the disease. Epilepsy in autism, as an association, was reported as early as 1944 by Leo Kanner, in describing his initial work involving 11 cases and how one of them suffered from epilepsy. In 1960, the prevalence of epilepsy among autistic patients was evaluated and found to be much higher than in the normal population. The figures differ from author to author, but really they depend on age: the higher the age, the greater the prevalence of epilepsy. It was in fact this detail that drew our attention to this issue, and triggered the first questions in our research into autism and epilepsy. The series vary from 4 to 86%, depending on the methodology used to confirm the epilepsy. In our casuistics, between the ages of 1 and 18 years, 20% of these children with autism spectrum disorders suffer some kind of epileptic seizures, and 80% suffer what other researchers call subclinical seizures . In this paper, the symptomatology of the most important subclinical seizures that have been observed in these children is presented; the diseases associated with autism are commented on; the concept of primary and secondary autism is discussed; we explain why seizures occur in autism and their consequences as a neurodevelopmental disorder, and we put forward an interesting hypothesis within our general theory of autism. We also comment on the importance that the use of functional magnetic images in the study of autism has in our research.