The University of Washington Autism Center is looking for 150 young children to participate in a study.
Researchers will take brain images of participants as they sleep three times between the ages of six months and two years. It will not harm the children, but it may unlock important secrets about Autism if they can reveal what goes wrong with brain development in infants who later develop Autism.
According to an report by KING 5 news, "There's something that happens probably between six months and a year based indirectly on head circumference measurement. And so what we're doing is the first study to prospectively look at what this process is," explains Dr. Stephen Dager of the UW's Autism Center.
The study is open to babies with at least one older sibling -- some of those brothers or sisters should be diagnosed with Autism, others should not.
"Our goal is to improve lives for children of Autism and their families. We feel very strongly that by identifying children earlier and more accurately that we can start early intervention," said Says researcher Dr. Annette Estes.
UW Researchers are looking for about 150 infants for the study. About about two-thirds should have at least one older sibling with autism. If you are interested in enrolling your child in the study, call 1-800-994-9701.
Comments