Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Alexander disease (AxD) is a primary genetic disorder of astrocytes caused by dominant mutations in the gene encoding the intermediate filament (IF) protein GFAP. This disease is characterized by excessive accumulation of GFAP, known as Rosenthal fibers, within astrocytes.
Verbal trait disorders encompass a wide range of conditions and are marked by deficits in five domains that impair a person’s ability to communicate: speech, language, reading, spelling, and writing. Nonword repetition is a robust endophenotype for verbal trait disorders that is sensitive to cognitive processes critical to verbal development, including auditory processing, phonological working memory, and motor planning and programming.
Like all parents, couples who have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) share the ups and downs of parenting. A new study by Waisman Center researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison looks at the daily experiences of these parents to provide a more detailed picture of the strengths and vulnerabilities of couples raising a …
As researchers have investigated the socio-historical conditions responsible for the upsurge in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, they have neglected how clinicians determine the diagnoses in local encounters in the first place.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have made a surprising and potentially crucial discovery about Alexander disease, a rare and fatal neurological disorder with no known cure. Using a mouse model for this disease, which in humans involves the destruction of white matter in the brain, a research team led by Albee Messing, director of …
Title: FMR1 Genotype Interacts with Parenting Stress to Shape Health and Functional Abilities in Older Age. Legend: Among those with modal numbers of CGG repeats (around 30), the figure shows similarity between parents of children with disabilities and parents in the comparison group (i.e., parents of children without disabilities) with respect to the number of …
Children who face severe adversity, such as physical abuse, early in life often develop behavioral and emotional problems. But the underlying psychological mechanisms that link early adversity with negative outcomes have remained unclear. A new study, published in February in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, by researchers from several institutions, including the Waisman …
Title: Does Bilateral Experience Lead to Improved Spatial Unmasking of Speech in Children Who Use Bilateral Cochlear Implants? Legend: We vary the spatial locations of target speech and masking speech, so they are co-located (A) or separated (B). The difference in speech reception thresholds between (A) and (B) indicates advantage from spatial cues (spatial release …
One Wednesday in September, 15-year-old Tristan Thurman went to soccer practice at his high school. The team had just lost a game the day before because the other team had scored goals heading the ball, so this practice session was dedicated to heading drills. Tristan remembers feeling slightly dizzy after practice. By that Friday morning, …
Title: Grammatical processing and non-verbal working memory in monolingual and bilingual children Legend: Spanish-English bilingual children did not perform as well on the English grammaticality judgment task, and showed greater reliance on nonverbal working memory during grammatical processing compared to monolingual English-speaking children. Citation: Gangopadhyay, I., Davidson, M.M., Ellis Weismer, S., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2016). …
