UW Autism Research Center of Excellence

UW STAART中心将解决以下总体目标： (1)确定社会，语言，神经心理学和电生理学特征，区分自闭症儿童与发育迟缓儿童和典型发育儿童。这些研究将提高我们在生命早期识别自闭症的能力，以便自闭症儿童能够尽早得到帮助，并改善他们的长期结果（项目I和II）。(2)评估早期强化行为干预对改善自闭症儿童结局的有效性，并确定儿童神经认知因素是否会调节早期干预的效果。 这些知识将为个性化干预的决策提供信息，阐明大脑机制，并阐明与大脑可塑性相关的问题（项目I）。 (3)通过研究患有自闭症的幼儿的大脑结构（通过磁共振成像）和大脑化学（通过磁共振光谱）的异常，与发育迟缓的儿童和典型发育的儿童相比，增加我们对自闭症神经生物学基础的理解（项目III）。 (4)通过使用事件相关脑电位和功能性磁共振成像研究高功能自闭症患者的核心社会认知障碍，增强我们对自闭症认知神经科学的理解。这些信息与早期识别、开发更精细的干预措施和测量数量遗传性状有关（项目IV）。 (5)进行分子生物学研究，旨在发现自闭症的基因。自闭症易感基因的鉴定对于早期识别、预防和医疗非常重要（项目V）。

The UW STAART Center will address the following overall objectives: (1) To determine social, linguistic, neuropsychological, and electrophysiological characteristics that distinguish very young children with autism from children with developmental delay and those with typical development. Such research will enhance our ability to recognize autism early in life so that children with autism can be helped as early as possible, and their long-term outcome can be improved (Projects I and II). (2) To assess the efficacy of early intensive behavioral intervention for improving outcomes for children with autism, and to determine whether child neurocognitive factors moderate the effects of early intervention. Such knowledge will inform decisions regarding individualized interventions, elucidate brain mechanisms, and shed light on questions related to brain plasticity (Project I). (3) To increase our understanding of the neurobiological bases of autism by studying abnormalities in brain structure (via magnetic resonance imaging) and brain chemistry (via magnetic resonance spectroscopy) in very young children with autism, as compared to children with developmental delay and those with typical development (Project III). (4) To enhance our understanding of the cognitive neuroscience of autism by studying core social cognition impairments in high-functioning individuals with autism using event related brain potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging. This information is relevant for early identification, development of more refined interventions, and measurement of quantitative genetic traits (Project IV). (5) To conduct molecular biology studies aimed at gene discovery in autism. Identification of susceptibility genes in autism is important for early identification, prevention, and medical treatment (Project V).