As a third year graduate student in school psychology at the University of South Carolina, Lindsay McCary, PhD, was looking for a new advisor to help her with her dissertation. At the time, Jane Roberts, PhD, had just joined the Department of Psychology and had some data available on younger children with the genetic disorder fragile X syndrome (FXS). McCary was immediately fascinated by the new professor’s research because it integrated both behavioral and physiological data to examine an individual’s observable characteristics.
Autism
Jenny Saffran, PhD – Slide of the Week
Eye-gaze methods offer numerous advantages for studying cognitive processes in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but data loss may threaten the validity and generalizability of results. Some eye-gaze systems may be more vulnerable to data loss than others, but to our knowledge, this issue has not been empirically investigated. In the current study, we asked whether automatic eye-tracking and manual gaze coding produce different rates of data loss or different results in a group of 51 toddlers with ASD.
The Social Brain: A Beautiful Mind
What images come to mind when you hear the phrase social brain? Do you think of children running around on a playground laughing together? Do you think of problem solving or imagine colorful brain scans? Do you think of autism? These are the questions that inspired a breadth of autism research that was recently evaluated by a team of Waisman scientists and compiled into a new literature review.
Autism Facebook Live Series: Amy Lyle
April is Autism Awareness Month! Join us for a series of Facebook live chats about autism with clinicians from the Waisman Center Clinics. Tune in on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m CDT throughout April for a …
Sigan Hartley, PhD – Slide of the Week
Family research in the field of ASD has focused on describing the impact of child challenges on parents, usually mothers, and given little attention to the ways in which mothers and fathers reciprocally influence the development of the child with ASD.
Karla Ausderau, PhD – Slide of the Week
Mealtime is an important family routine commonly affected for families with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Limited research is available regarding strategies families incorporate to support mealtime engagement. The purpose of this study was to explore the frequency and characterize the purpose of Props used during mealtimes with children with ASD.
UCEDD – Slide of the Week
Although intervening early can improve child and family outcomes when a child has a developmental disability, most children with developmental delays are not identified prior to school entry. Childcare professionals can play a key role in identifying delays early.
Ari Rosenberg, PhD – Slide of the Week
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests as a heterogeneous set of social, cognitive, motor, and perceptual symptoms. This system-wide pervasiveness suggests that, rather than narrowly impacting individual systems such as affection or vision, autism may broadly alter neural computation.
Brittany Travers, PhD – Slide of the Week
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder often struggle with motor difficulties across the life span, and these motor difficulties may affect independent living skills and quality of life. Yet, we know little about how whole-body movement may distinguish individuals with autism spectrum disorder from individuals with typical development.
Brainy Movement Study for Kids
The Motor and Brain Development Lab at the Waisman Center is recruiting children 6-9 years old with autism OR with typical development for a research study that looks at the brainstem and corresponding behaviors in …