Autism

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders has developed a special online resource for April’s Autism Awareness Month. Read More

Vanderbilt's Paul Yoder and Zachary Warren and Wendy Stone of the University of Washington’s Autism Center have received at five-year, $2.1 million NIH grant to study communication interventions for younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. Read More

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and Vanderbilt University have discovered a “missing link” in the structure of a transmembrane receptor that could lead to new treatments for autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

SENSE Theatre, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and University School of Nashville will present Mergatroid and the Candy Store March 7-8 at 7 p.m. at the Belmont University Black Box Theatre on Compton Ave. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center is conducting a study to learn more about the lower rates of autism among Hispanic children. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center TRIAD program has collaborated with the Nashville Opera to create a free performance of "Billy Goats Gruff" for children with autism spectrum disorder. Read More

Colleen Niswender, Ph.D., research associate professor of Pharmacology, has received a three-year, $450,000 grant from the autism science and advocacy organization Autism Speaks to support studies investigating a possible new treatment for Rett syndrome. Read More

More independent work environments may lead to reductions in autism symptoms and improve daily living in adults with the disorder, according to a new study released in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Read More

It’s like a poorly dubbed film – the words heard don’t match up with the video seen. Vanderbilt researchers report (Journal of Neuroscience) that this out-of-sync issue then cascades into additional problems for children with autism spectrum disorder. Reseachers believe this new finding will help develop treatments for children with… Read More

In the latest VUCast: What people with autism see may not match what they hear; how “supersizing” could help you lose weight; and hear what earned a Vanderbilt astronomer a Grammy nomination. Watch now. Read More

Children with autism spectrum disorders have trouble integrating simultaneous information from their eyes and their ears--as if they experience the world like a badly-dubbed movie. Read More

More independent work environments may lead to reductions in autism symptoms and improve daily living in adults with the disorder, according to a Vanderbilt study released in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Read More

An association between rigid-compulsive behaviors and gastrointestinal symptoms in autism spectrum disorder may point to a common biological pathway that impacts both the brain and the gut. Read More

iStock Peer solicitation – a child inviting another to play – can improve reciprocal social interaction among children with autism, according to a Vanderbilt University study released today in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Researchers studied playground interactions between children with autism and typically… Read More

MRI brain scans reveal that children with autism spectrum disorders respond to a narrower range of familiar rewards. Read More

Will a definitive same-sex marriage lawsuit wind up in the Supreme Court? Also, finding what goes "boom" might get safer; and it’s time to slow down and smell the roses, Vandy-style. Watch these stories and more in VUCast, Vanderbilt’s online newscast. Read More

The iPad you use to check email, watch episodes of "Mad Men" and play Words with Friends may hold the key to enabling children with autism to express themselves through speech. Read More

A novel autism intervention program using theatre to teach reciprocal communication skills is improving social deficits in adolescents with the disorder that now affects an estimated one in 88 children, Vanderbilt University researchers report in the journal Autism Research. Read More

A novel autism intervention program using theatre to teach reciprocal communication skills is improving social deficits in adolescents with the disorder that now affects an estimated one in 88 children, Vanderbilt University researchers released today in the journal Autism Research. Read More

Vanderbilt University investigators for the first time have linked a non-inherited, de novo mutation in the dopamine transporter to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Read More