Cycles of Social Contingency in Autism: Pivotal Transitions that Shape Infant Brain-Behavior Development in Human & Model Systems

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PROJECT SUMMARY The Emory ACE joins 12 laboratories in 6 institutions under the auspices of Emory University, creating a center for clinical and translational science built – from its outset – on the expectation of transformative impact on the community. These laboratories combine methodological and conceptual expertise in child development, speech science, behavioral neuroscience, and treatment research. The thematic mission of the Emory ACE guides each of its 5 projects and 4 cores: to execute science that leads directly to a future of optimized outcomes for the next generations of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Projects I-III study reciprocal behavior, in the visual and vocal, brain and behavior domains, within the first six months of life, and in subsequent brain-behavior transitions until 30 months of age, in infants and toddlers at low and high risk for ASD. Project IV advances rigorous, randomized-controlled trials for treatment of ASD into infancy and toddlerhood, testing infant and infant- caregiver characteristics that predict treatment response and outcome; its goal is to optimize treatment effects, personalized to the developmental stage of the child, and within the structure of the child-caregiver dyad. Project V advances a nonhuman primate model of social development, interrogating the underpinnings of social disability in brain and behavior studies. Together, these Projects advance our understanding of the developmental unfolding of ASD, and sets the stage for changing its course prior to the point when disability is even fully manifest. Four Cores provide the resources to support these goals, spanning Clinical Assessment and Care, Informatics, Administration and Dissemination & Outreach. In its efforts to meet and exceed the aspirational goals for autism set forth by the US DHSS Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and by NIMH Research Priorities, the Emory ACE expands a new scientific community, focused on the translational social neuroscience of ASD, in service of children and families. Its ultimate goal is to change the narrative of ASD from one of potentially devastating disability to one of positive diversity, in which individuals with autism are able to succeed despite their learning differences and because of their unique assets, unencumbered by the burdens of language, intellectual disabilities, and severe behavior challenges.