April is Autism Awareness Month, shedding light on a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social interaction, communication, and behavior in one out of every 68 children. The Waisman Center is committed to solving the autism puzzle …
News
Paul White leads the Waisman Center’s community outreach
Paul White has been a key player in helping people with developmental disabilities in Dane County live independently and be included in community life. When White, 63, a licensed professional counselor, began his career in the 1970s, institutionalization was the fate for many people with cognitive challenges. When the Illinois native moved to the Madison area in 1982, he was the treatment director for a large facility that housed more than 90 people.
For adults with autism, a lack of support when they need it most
Research on how best to help adults with autism is paper-thin. Of the more than $400 million that the United States spends each year on autism research, the vast majority is for genetics research to find the causes and a cure, and studies on early diagnosis and intervention in children. Few studies have examined treatments for adults.
Infants give strong clues to language learning
Imagine that you’ve been dropped into an unfamiliar country. People are speaking all around you. But you don’t recognize the sounds or objects surrounding you. You don’t even hear words; all the sounds are mushed together. It is very confusing.
Down syndrome research and services at the Waisman Center
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day, designated on this date to signify the cause of Down syndrome—the presence of a third 21st chromosome (3/21). Approximately one in every 691 babies is born with Down …
Waisman Center art featured at campus exhibit
Katie Sweeney, Waisman Center Communications The McPherson Eye Research Institute unveiled its new exhibit, Seeing Beyond Disabilities: Unique Insights, on January 29 in the Mandelbaum and Albert Vision Gallery at the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. The exhibit features …
Gamm’s research aims to treat blinding diseases
Inherited and acquired degenerative diseases of the retina are a significant cause of incurable vision loss worldwide. David Gamm, MD, PhD, utilizes stem cell technology to test ways to preserve or restore vision in people …
Waisman Center investigator Ruth Litovsky, PhD named a Fulbright Scholar
Ruth Litovsky, PhD, a Waisman Center investigator and professor of communication sciences and disorders, is a 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar for the East-Asia Pacific Region. Litovsky is an internationally-recognized expert on auditory perception — how the brain processes sound to enable people to hear and communicate in noisy environments.
Autism study finds genetic mutation poor indicator
David Wargowski, MD, a clinical geneticist in the Waisman Center Medical Genetics Clinic, discusses a new autism study in the journal Nature that examines the genetic variance of family members with an autism spectrum disorder.
Laying a foundation for treating ALS, spinal cord injury
This story starts in 1955, upon the death of Albert Einstein, when the pathologist charged with performing the famous scientist’s autopsy stole his brain. Fast forward to the 1980s when a University of California, Berkeley scientist was studying parts of the stolen goods involved in complex thinking and discovered that the father of relativity had more of certain types of cells, called astrocytes, than other human brains studied.