UC DAVIS MIND INSTITUTE WINTER 2015-16 Friends OF THE Research making hope a reality MIND David Amaral appointed to advance research, services

avid Amaral, Beneto the IACC Strategic Plan for behavioral health sciences DFoundation Chair and Disorder, and . He also Director of Research, UC Davis preparing an annual summary directs AutismBrainNet, a MIND Institute, has been of advances in autism research, national program mounted by David Amaral appointed by United States monitoring federal autism activi- the Simons Foundation Autism of children with autism, the Department of Health and ties and providing guidance Research Initiative and Autism Autism Phenome Project, in Human Services Secretary Sylvia to Burwell on matters related Speaks that educates the public order to define biomedical char- M. Burwell to the Interagency to research into, and care for, about the need for donated acteristics of different types of Autism Coordinating Committee individuals with autism. and other tissue for autism autism. The longitudinal study (IACC), which advises the sec- “I am very appreciative to the investigations. He is editor-in- begins when children are only retary on approaches to advance secretary for providing me this chief of Autism Research, the 2- to 3 1/2-years old and contin- research, strengthen services opportunity to learn from other peer-reviewed journal of the ues throughout their lifespans. and increase opportunities for committee members, as well International Society for Autism He is one of several public people with autism spectrum as from those who will present Research. committee members, who rep- disorder. before the committee during the Amaral, whose expertise is resent a wide range of interests The committee, established next four years, on the nation’s in neuroimaging and neuro- related to autism spectrum by the Autism CARES Act, is progress in understanding the pathology, conducts research disorder, including: three adults chaired by Acting Director of complexities of autism spectrum on the neurobiology of autism on the autism spectrum; several the National Institutes of Mental disorder,” Amaral said. spectrum disorder. He is family members of children and Health Bruce Cuthbert, and Amaral is a distinguished coordinating a comprehensive adults on the autism spectrum; charged with annually updating professor of and and multidisciplinary analysis Continued on the next page

Constant movement may help children with ADHD think The constant movement of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be distracting – but the fidgeting also may improve their cognitive performance, a study by researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found. The take-away message: The hyperactivity seen in ADHD may help these children think.

he study of pre-teens and cognitive performance. first to assess the relationship Institute ADHD Program and Tteenagers with ADHD The study, “A trial-by-trial between activity and task study senior author. examined how movement – analysis reveals more intense performance on a trial-by-trial “Parents and teachers its intensity and frequency physical activity is associated basis in ADHD. shouldn’t try to keep them – correlated with accuracy with better cognitive control “It turns out that physical still. Let them move while they on cognitively demanding performance in attention- movement during cognitive are doing their work or other tasks requiring good atten- deficit/hyperactivity disor- tasks may be a good thing for challenging cognitive tasks,” tion. It found that participants der,” was published earlier them,” said Julie Schweitzer, Schweitzer said. “It may be who moved more intensely this year in the journal Child professor of psychiatry, direc- that the hyperactivity exhibited substantially better Neuropsychology. It was the tor of the UC Davis MIND Continued on the next page MIND Institute receives grant to measure language acquisition in autism

he evaluation of new treatments for studies, because it reflects real-world lan- The study Tautism spectrum disorder is being guage performance and captures language will validate hampered by the lack of validated mea- impairments that are both common across ELS use for sures to assess the progress that individuals developmental disorders and unique to people with Angela John Thurman make in such treatments. UC Davis MIND specific conditions. autism, and Institute researchers, in collaboration with “Researchers are developing a specifically its consistency during repeated the University of Minnesota and University number of promising pharmacological administrations and across contexts. It of Washington, are studying the utility of and behavioral treatments,” said Angela also will evaluate how ELS validity differs methods for measuring language acquisi- Thurman, postdoctoral scholar in the among people of different ages, genders, tion in people with autism spectrum dis- Laboratory on Language Development in autism severity and IQs. order, in order to evaluate their treatment Neurodevelopmental Disorders. “In ASD, The research will include 108 6- to progress, through a $125,000 seed grant the level of spoken language achieved in 23-year-old individuals with autism, and from the Simons Foundation for Autism childhood is one of the best predictors of will examine the ELS methods of narra- Research. later adult functioning, making language a tion, conversation and performance on the The approach, called expressive lan- frequent target of treatment.” Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule guage sampling (ELS), analyzes spoken “However, we don’t yet have tools (ADOS-2). The data will be compared language samples to quantify aspects of sensitive and accurate enough to measure to data already being collected on same- language acquisition and use, such as change in language in treatment studies,” age individuals with vocabulary, as well as atypical language Thurman said. “The preliminary data sug- and Down syndrome in a project already use, such as excessive repetition of phrases gests that our procedures can measure even funded by the National Institutes of Health. or words, often called perserveration. subtle but important change in language The PI of the project is Leonard ELS is an important alternative to most extending into late adolescence or young Abbeduto, MIND Instotute director. standardized tests available for treatment adulthood for most measures.”

Autism research Continued from previous page ADHD Continued from previous page clinicians and researchers; leaders of private autism research we see in ADHD may actually be ben- organizations; and service and advocacy organizations. eficial at times. Perhaps the movement The committee also includes federal government increases their arousal level, which leads members who represent agencies within Health and to better attention.” Human Services including: The Administration for Twenty-six children with validated Children and Families, Centers for Disease Control and ADHD diagnoses and 18 who were Julie Schweitzer Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Health developing typically and served as Resources and Services Administration, National Institutes controls were included in the study. The research was conducted at the of Health and the Department of Education. MIND Institute. The participants were between the ages of 10 years and “Working initially with the parents who started the 17 years when the study was conducted. MIND Institute and subsequently with my colleagues The participants’ movements were measured by affixing a device there has taught me the value of combining basic and to their ankles that measured their level of activity while completing clinical research, and the need for communicating a “flanker test” that requires good attention and the ability to inhibit research findings in a comprehensible fashion to the paying attention to distractions. autism community, as well as the value of remaining The accuracy of the participants with ADHD was significantly open-minded about the causes and course of autism,” improved when they were moving, the study found. In other words, Amaral said. “I look forward to providing whatever guid- correct answers were associated with more motion than incorrect ance I can to encourage increased research in autism answers. spectrum disorder in a positive and collegial fashion.” “This finding suggests that accuracy in ADHD may be enhanced by Amaral received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from more intense activity or that when a child with ADHD is using more cog- and a doctoral degree in neuro- nitive resources they are more likely to be engaging in physical activity.” science and psychology from the . the study says. He conducted postdoctoral research at Washington Other study authors are T.A. Hartanto, C.E. Krafft and I.M. Iosif, University. also of UC Davis.

2 UC DAVIS MIND INSTITUTE • FRIENDS OF THE MIND • WINTER 2015-16 Spreading hope for autism

The room is small. There is a countertop where the mother who lives here prepares food for herself and her two young children, a 4-year-old who has autism and an infant. There are two plastic milk crates outside the doorway in the dirt, used to sit and visit with neighbors or pulled into the tiny floor space. The milk crates and a double bed are the only furniture in the small house and the only furniture that can fit.

ally Rogers is the co-creator of the toddlers with autism which has also been SEarly Start Denver Model, acclaimed used in children as young as 6 months. For as a highly effective therapy for toddlers some of those children, it has been found to with autism. The intervention is now used eliminate symptoms by the time the child worldwide, with training materials trans- is 3. lated into 12 languages. Rogers visited South Africa to explore Lying on towels in a plastic laundry how to bring ESDM help to families in that “She had electricity … a tub on the floor, the baby is sleeping. Sally country. The intervention teaches parents Rogers sits beside the basket on one of the how to help guide their children’s develop- small TV … a VCR and a crates. She extends her hand to caress the ment and is used worldwide, with training smart phone. And I realized sleeping child. materials translated into 12 languages. The room is the entirety of the home, in Rogers and her staff hold ESDM seminars in that if we had (autism) a township in Cape Town, South Africa. It many countries on several continents, and intervention materials on is the spring of 2015. multiple training sessions take place every “This is the only open space in her little month all over the world. YouTube, she could have home – this area about four by four feet – Now she is turning her attention used them the next day. where she cooks, where the baby sleeps in to further democratizing access to the a plastic basket, where she bathes herself intervention by making ESDM materials That was a very important and her children, using this tub, where she available on the Internet – such as placing experience for me.” sits on the floor to eat with her son, dresses them on YouTube – where they would be him – on the floor,” says Rogers, a UC Davis available to everyone, everywhere. – Sally Rogers developmental psychologist. “Everything This mother in South Africa wants the Co-creator of the Early Start Denver Model happens right here.” same thing for her child that all mothers The room is lit by a small lamp – and in want. She wants him to be able to speak, to that fact, Rogers finds hope. take him places and have him behave well, “She had electricity,” Rogers said. “She to go to school, to have some sort of work to had a small TV and a VCR and a smart do as an adult. Those are goals of all parents phone. And I realized that if we had of children with autism. (autism) intervention materials on YouTube, “There isn’t a MIND Institute available she could have used them the next day. for most children in the world with autism,” “That was a very important experience Rogers says. “Most children with autism for me,” she said. live in China, Africa and India,” places with Rogers is one of the world’s leading the world’s largest populations. “In South researchers into effective therapies for Africa, there are no intervention services of children with autism spectrum disorder or any kind for children with ASD under 6, ASD. A professor of psychiatry at the UC regardless of the circumstances.” Davis MIND Institute, she and her col- Despite that fact, the mother she visited league Geri Dawson of Duke University was deeply committed to helping her child, created the Early Start Denver Model, “hungry for knowledge” – like mothers acclaimed as a highly effective therapy for everywhere.

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Training the next generation Elizabeth McBride has joined the ittle more than 18 months ago we autoantibodies directly affects the develop- UC Davis Lannounced that the MIND Institute ment of a specific class of cells, thereby pre- MIND Institute had been selected as one of only 15 senting a viable pathologic mechanism for as director of Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and the maternal autoantibody-related prenatal development Developmental Disabilities Research autism risk. She comes Elizabeth K. McBride Centers (IDDRCs) nationwide. With this Sickness during pregnancy is known to the MIND designation came a commitment to use to be associated with increased risk of Institute from the Virginia Tech Carilion philanthropy to support the research of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring, School of Medicine and Research Institute in the next generation of neurodevelopmental including autism and schizophrenia. Dr. Roanoke, Va., where she served as director of investigators through a highly competitive Bauman’s research is examining a number development. Prior to her work at Virginia Tech, pilot research grant program. of factors – including genetic susceptibility, she worked at Memorial Health Foundation From those seed funds, some of the the intensity of the infection and maternal in Savannah, Ga., as a senior development MIND Institute’s phenomenal early career immune response to infection, the timing manager. investigators, Melissa Bauman, Rebecca J. of the immune challenge and exposure to “I’m thrilled to be leading efforts to bring more Schmidt, Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño and additional adverse environmental chal- resources to our amazing team at the MIND Andrea Schneider, already have grown lenges – and how they may alter fetal Institute,” McBride said. “The work being promising new lines of inquiry that will yield development. done here at the MIND Institute truly makes a meaningful advances for people with neuro- Dr. Schneider’s project is using aspects difference in the quality of life for children and developmental disorders and their families. of electroencephalography (EEG) tech- their families affected by neurodevelopmental disorders.” Dr. Schmidt, whose earlier investiga- nology to establish new, more reliable tions identified the importance of prenatal biomarkers of brain dysfunction in fragile “Elizabeth is a perfect fit for the MIND institute,” vitamins for expectant mothers, is extend- X syndrome that could serve as potential MIND Institute Director Leonard Abbeduto ing that research to explore the contribu- outcome measures for future pharmaco- said. “She is a consummate professional, has a wonderful work ethic, understands tions of maternal supplemental iron intake logic treatments in fragile X and related the importance of philanthropy to innovative and variations in genes that regulate iron disorders, including autism. science and is passionately committed to metabolism to development of autism I’m sure you will join me in applauding helping families.” symptoms in the child. Her overall goal the work of these early career investigators, Donors are integral to the MIND Institute and its is to identify protective factors for autism, whose efforts are superb examples of the efforts to advance progress toward treatments particularly in those who are genetically crucial role philanthropy plays in pushing through its groundbreaking research. Making susceptible. forward important science and catalyzing a gift to the MIND Institute helps the millions Dr. Martinez-Cerdeño, who is exploring greater discovery. I also want to express my of individuals and families living with the how maternal autism-specific brain-reactive most sincere appreciation to all of you who challenges of neurodevelopmental disorders. autoantibodies directly affect neurodevel- have made the gifts that supported these To make a gift to help improve the lives of opment in utero, already has published on investigators. MIND Institute patients and their families and the subject in the journal Cerebral Cortex. all people with neurodevelopmental disorders, She and her colleagues found that prena- Leonard Abbeduto please contact Elizabeth, at 916-703-0221. tal exposure to autism-specific maternal Director, UC Davis MIND Institute