We are delighted to announce that we have received new research grants from Autism Speaks and the National Institutes of Health to investigate the earliest signs of risk for autism spectrum disorders in infants. Our project, in collaboration with Children's Hospital Boston, will utilize innovative approaches to study infants considered at risk because they have an older sibling with an autism spectrum disorder. We will combine observation, parent diaries, and measures of brain activity to help us to understand better the early risk signs for language and social-communication problems. We hope this research will lead us to new diagnostic procedures to detect autism spectrum disorders in their very earliest stages, when early intervention techniques are most effective. We are now recruiting families into this study and are excited to begin research. If you have or are expecting a baby and have an older child with an autism spectrum disorder and you are interested in participating in the Infants at Risk study, we would love to hear from you!

For more information, please contact: azuluaga@bu.edu