Typical Male vs. Typical Female vs. Autistic Developmental Trajectories - a longitudinal study of development, from birth to age 18 months, with an emphasis on attending to human faces.

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The ultimate goal of my research is to achieve a better understanding of Autism. Autism is the most common neurological disorder affecting children, and it affects approximately 190,000 Canadians, according to Autism Society Canada. Although much research has been conducted on this developmental disorder, it is still poorly understood. I propose that in order to understand Autism, what causes it, and how best to treat it, it is necessary to closely follow the development of Autistic children, from the earliest stage possible. And we should follow not only their social and communication development, but also their development in other domains, such as motor development, sensory development and cognitive development, which are all intertwined. This will enable us to tease out a small number of factors which lead, through development, to the symptoms of the Autistic child. One possible factor on which we will put considerable emphasis in our studies is the amount of time and attention the infant allots to human faces at different points in development. Since Autism is not diagnosed until the age of 18 months, we propose two paths by which to track Autistic development. The first is to study the developmental paths of infants at risk for developing Autism, such as siblings of Autistics. The second is to study the development of males versus females, under the assumption that any differences that emerge may be useful in understanding Autistic development. This is because there is evidence for a relationship between gender and Autism (with Autism dubbed extreme maleness), mediated perhaps by exposure to testosterone. Our research will be conducted using developmental questionnaires, as well as behavioral experiments in the lab, which will be performed in conjunction with neuroimaging techniques. The subjects will be infants aged 0 to 18 months. We will track their individual development, and analyze our findings according to gender and low/high risk for Autism.