Category: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)

Typing, tapping, and eye-gaze tracking: Augmentative and alternative communication provides crucial access to communication when speech is out of reach

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For many, talking is as easy as breathing. A few words to tell your friend that you are hungry and ready for lunch. A long rant to your partner about frustrations at work. A description of what hurts to your doctor. A quiet, ‘I love you,’ to a close family member. Being able to talk helps to make communicating efficient and effective. But not everyone has access to speech.

New book shares the experiences of individuals with disabilities through the COVID-19 pandemic using photos

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The Pandemic Cancelled It, and They Never Brought It Back takes readers into the daily lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the COVID‑19 pandemic, using their own photographs and words to reveal moments of loss, adaptation, resilience, and connection. Created by researchers at the Waisman Center, the book offers an intimate portrait of a community whose experiences are too often overlooked.

Earliest signs of neurodegeneration in Down syndrome detected shortly after birth, new Waisman study shows

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Signs of neurodegeneration in individuals with Down syndrome may start as early as birth, a critical stage of brain development, a new study shows. The research, from investigators at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides an atlas of early brain development in Down syndrome that could inform potential targeted treatments to address the developmental and degenerative aspects of the condition.

Drug shifts a key hormone after newborn brain injury – but only in females

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A blood test alone cannot tell the full story of what’s happening inside a newborn’s brain after a brain injury. New research from the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that the hippocampus—a brain region critical for learning and memory—maintains its own powerful, locally regulated steroid environment during early development and after brain injury.

Eagles Autism Foundation funds new research on use of nanotechnology to deliver gene-editing tools to the brain

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A new research study at the Waisman Center has been funded by the Eagles Autism Foundation to develop a precise, safe, and broadly applicable method for correcting a single-gene mutation associated with symptoms of autism spectrum disorders including learning deficits, anxiety, depression, and reduced social interactions.

Gallery Walk: The Pandemic Cancelled It, and They Never Brought It Back

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The gallery walk goes from Monday, April 6 through Thursday, April 30, 2026 and will be accessible during regular business hours in the John D. Wiley Conference Center hallway at the Waisman Center on the second floor, north tower.

Developmental markers have the potential to make diagnosing autism in individuals with Down syndrome easier

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Down syndrome, a neurodevelopmental condition caused by a triplicated 21st chromosome, often presents with co-occurring developmental conditions such as autism. But diagnosing autism in someone with Down syndrome can be difficult as they have overlapping symptoms.

Understanding why individuals with disabilities continue to be left out of health research

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Individuals with disabilities face significant health disparities, yet remain underrepresented in health research. There is substantial evidence that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are systematically excluded from health research, even when it involves a condition that disproportionately impacts them.

The newly funded Autism Research Consortium seeks to accelerate timely access to care for autistic individuals

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Researchers at the Waisman Center’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) were recently awarded a grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to support research to improve the health and well-being of children and youth with autism.

New algorithm helps decipher complex biological data to advance neurodevelopmental research

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A new machine learning algorithm developed at UW-Madison is helping researchers untangle a complex puzzle: the molecular mechanisms behind developmental disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases. COSIME, created by the lab of Waisman investigator Daifeng Wang, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics and medical informatics, and computer sciences, offers a powerful new way to integrate and interpret multiple types of biological data which can give scientists a clearer view of how different cellular clues come together to shape disease outcomes.