Author: lrrowley

After decades of service, Waisman clinician Tina Iyama-Kurtycz retires in December

Iyama-Kurtycz’s journey from an 8-year-old with a dream to a skilled clinician took her to medical school at the University of Michigan and a residency at the University of Kansas. “While at Kansas, I met a pediatrician who was taking care of children with disabilities and I realized that’s what I wanted to do,” says Iyama-Kurtycz.

Waisman Center director search advances as interim leadership is named

“Dr. Messing has been an outstanding director of this center since his appointment in 2015. He is both a superb scientist and has been a strong leader across this center’s multifaceted mission,” says Norman Drinkwater, UW–Madison associate vice chancellor for research in biological sciences.

Childhood stress and life risks

Adults who lived high-stress childhoods have trouble reading the signs that a loss or punishment is looming, leaving themselves in situations that risk avoidable health and financial problems and legal trouble.

Maureen S. Durkin, PhD, DrPH – Slide of the Week

Objectives: To describe the association between indicators of SES and the prevalence of ASD in the United States during the period 2002 to 2010, when overall ASD prevalence among children more than doubled, and to determine whether SES disparities account for ongoing racial and ethnic disparities in ASD prevalence.

Susan Ellis Weismer, PhD

Weak central coherence (processing details over gist), poor oral language abilities, poor suppression, semantic interference, and poor comprehension monitoring have all been implicated to affect reading comprehension in individuals with ASD.

Video game improves balance in youth with autism

“We think this video game-based training could be a unique way to help individuals with ASD who have challenges with their balance address these issues,” says Travers, an investigator at UW–Madison’s Waisman Center and an assistant professor of kinesiology.

A decade after stem cell feat, research ramps up

A decade after scientists announced the development of induced pluripotent stem cells, Waisman investigators, including Su-Chun Zhang and David Gamm, continue to use these cells to research and develop potential therapies for several disorders and conditions, such as ALS, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, and macular degeneration.

New faculty focus: Sriram Boothalingam

How did you get into your field of research? After I learned that the inner ear can produce sounds on its own and that the brain controls what we hear, I was hooked!

Leann Smith DaWalt, PhD

Currently there are few evidence-based programs available for families of individuals with ASD during the transition to adulthood. The present study provided a preliminary evaluation of a multi-family group psychoeducation intervention using a randomized waitlist control design (n = 41).

Mining the cerebellum for its role in speech

“We found that the folks with cerebellar damage responded to these unpredictable changes to a larger extent than those without any damage,” says Parrell. “It was totally unexpected.”