Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
“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.
Title: Longitudinal development of grip strength in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Legend: The group with ASD demonstrated atypical motor development, characterized by similar grip strength during childhood but increasingly weaker grip strength from adolescence into adulthood. Grip strength was associated with adaptive daily living skills both concurrently and 8 years into the future, suggesting that …
At the age of 9, Xavier Hansen already has it figured out. Someday, he is going to be the boss. “He has great aspirations to make things,” says his mom, Gail. “His goals are to own a movie theater. He wants to be in charge. If he wants something, he’ll find a way to get it.”
A new study by Waisman Center investigators Andy Alexander, PhD, professor of medical physics and psychiatry, Janet Lainhart, MD, professor of psychiatry and Brittany Travers, PhD, assistant professor of kinesiology, indicates a nerve bundle at the base of the brain is structurally compromised in people with autism. The study was recently featured by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative.
The corpus callosum, a thick bundle of nerve fibers that links the brain’s left and right hemispheres, develops differently in children with autism, a nine-year study has found.
With support from the National Institutes of Health, the Waisman Center Postdoctoral Training Program in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities prepares the next generation of scientists who will investigate the causes, consequences and treatments of some of human health’s most complex conditions.
