Brain volumes, cognitive, and adaptive skills in school-age children with Down syndrome.

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common congenital neurodevelopmental disorder, present in about 1 in every 700 live births. Despite its prevalence, literature exploring the neurobiology underlying DS and how this neurobiology is related to behavior is limited. This study fills this gap by examining cortical volumes and behavioral correlates in school-age children with DS.

Multi-site EEG studies in early infancy: Methods to enhance data quality.

Brain differences linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can manifest before observable symptoms. Studying these early neural precursors in larger and more diverse cohorts is crucial for advancing our understanding of developmental pathways and potentially facilitating earlier identification. EEG is an ideal tool for investigating early neural differences in ASD, given its scalability and high tolerability in infant populations.

Parent attitudes towards predictive testing for autism in the first year of life.

Background: Emerging biomarker technologies (e.g., MRI, EEG, digital phenotyping, eye-tracking) have potential to move the identification of autism into the first year of life.

Implementing a Uniform Outcome Measurement Approach for Early Interventions of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Objective: Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder show evidence for effectiveness for specific social communication targets such as joint attention or engagement. However, combining evidence from different studies and comparing intervention effects across those studies have not been feasible due to lack of a standardized outcome measure of broader social communication skills that can be applied uniformly across trials. This investigation examined the usefulness of the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC) as a common outcome measure of general social communication skills based on secondary analyses of data obtained from previously conducted randomized controlled trials of 3 intervention models, Early Social Intervention (ESI), Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) and Joint Attention Symbolic Play Engagement and Regulation (JASPER).