Announcements & Events
All are welcome. Join us to learn about recent advances with developmental disabilities. Meetings via Zoom- Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm. Free. Contact
Debbie.Reinhartsen@cidd.unc.edu to register. The schedule, slides and videos for all talks are posted.
The presentations are still available on-line. Kerry McCarthy Adams, a North Carolina parent’s presentation, “A Fragile X Journey Lessons in Navigation, Trusting your Inner Compass” is an excellent resource for newly diagnosed families. Contact
renee_clark@unc.edu for information.
This post highlights the ways research can impact the daily lives of autistic individuals, how to find easy-to-understand articles, and how to recognize reputable and reliable results.
Research Findings
Researchers in the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) use MRIs to image the brains of infants at high risk of autism. The have discovered differences as early as 6 months of age in the children who were later diagnosed with autism. NIH has funded the IBIS national network to continue their study of baby siblings of children with autism. Their goal is to find ways to identify very young children at high risk of autism and to inform treatments to optimize developmental outcomes.
The US Interagency Autism Coordinating committee selected two UNC studies for their list of significant advances in autism research.
This is Report 2 from the SPARK for Autism Study. These are findings reported by the independent adults (do not have a guardian) who are participating in SPARK.
This is Report 1 from the SPARK for Autism Study. These are interesting findings from information that families have provided to the study.
More than 5,000 SPARK participants responded to a survey study about what types of treatment children ages 3 to 17 received (other than medication).
Mark Zylka’s research into chemicals altering gene transcription in neurons gains international attention. View video on this site. http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2016/april/the-fungicide-effect
Dr. Julie Daniels, director of the North Carolina Surveillance site of the CDC Autism Monitoring Network, releases the report of the prevalence rates of children in NC who were born in 2012 and 2008. The rates in the North Carolina cohort was higher than the national cohort.
Preliminary findings from the survey of the Long-Term Outcomes study of adults who were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder by the TEACCH Autism Program between 1965 and 2000.
A summary of recently published research findings from a UNC Functional Neuroimaging Study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Dr. Marsha Mailick presented research findings at the 2019 NICHD Gatlinburg Conference. She used electronic medical records to study the health of males and females with the fragile X premutation gene (carriers). She found that FXS carriers experience more health difficulties over their life span when compared to the general population.
The authors reviewed 29,000 articles to locate the soundest evidenced-based interventions for children and youth with autism. AN UPDATED VERSION WILL BE RELEASED IN 2020.