Neurobehavioral Research on Infants at Risk for SLI and Autism

描述(由申请人提供)：特殊语言障碍(SLI)和自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)是一种复杂的、高度遗传性的疾病，涉及语言和交流的原发障碍。这两种疾病都是异质性的，长期结果差异很大，在有确诊孩子的家庭中，其他亲属可能会有一些共同的行为特征，但不符合诊断标准。在大约12个月大的时候，后来被诊断为SLI或ASD的儿童首次报告了主要语言和沟通里程碑的延迟，但到目前为止，人们对出生第一年可能检测到的迹象知之甚少。这项研究计划旨在通过调查处于这些疾病风险中的婴儿的早期发育(根据确诊的长辈兄弟姐妹定义的风险)来解决这一重要的临床和理论问题。基于其他人的早期工作和我们自己的初步数据，我们提出基本处理系统(例如，听觉/言语；视觉/社交)中的风险神经行为标记物可以在生命的第一年的后半部分被检测到。这是一个非常重要的阶段，因为在这段时间里，语言和社会知觉的发展都依赖于关键的社会嵌入学习经验。我们假设，SLI和ASD的风险婴儿具有表明言语/沟通处理机制存在问题的风险标记；ASD风险婴儿具有额外的(非共享的)风险标记，表明基于社会嵌入经验的发育问题。这些标志物可能会导致发育轨迹的改变。这项研究的具体目的是(1)确定区分SLI或ASD风险婴儿和低风险对照组婴儿的标志；(2)从6到12个月大的婴儿收集的测量数据中，确定以后SLI和ASD诊断(36个月大)的预测因素；(3)比较6到36个月有临床结果和没有临床结果的婴儿关键语言和相关社会/认知测量的发展轨迹。这些目标将以纵向前瞻性设计进行，跟踪观察6到36个月大的婴儿。将使用行为、眼球跟踪和神经生理测量以及认知和大脑发育的一般测量(头围；EEG)收集关于语言和社会感知的数据。这项研究的结果将对开发新的临床有用的方法来识别SLI和ASD的高危婴儿产生重大影响；反过来，这将改善他们的预后，因为它将为早期进入干预打开大门，众所周知，这将导致更好的结果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Specific language impairment (SLI) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are complex, highly heritable disorders that involve primary impairments in language and communication. Both disorders are heterogeneous, longer-term outcomes vary considerably, and in families that have a diagnosed child, other relatives may share some behavioral features without meeting diagnostic criteria. At around 12 months, delays in major language and communication milestones are first reported for children later diagnosed with SLI or ASD, but thus far, relatively little is known about signs that may be detected during the first year of life. This research program is designed to address this important clinical and theoretical issue by investigating the early development of infants at risk for these disorders (with risk defined on the basis of an older sibling with a confirmed diagnosis). Building on earlier work by others and our own preliminary data, we propose that neurobehavioral markers of risk in fundamental processing systems (e.g., auditory/speech; visual/social) can be detected in the latter half of the first year of life. This is a highly significant stage because during this time development of both language and social perception depend on critical socially-embedded learning experiences. We hypothesize that infants at risk for SLI and ASD have risk markers that signal problems in speech/communication processing mechanisms; infants at risk for ASD have additional (non-shared) risk markers that signal problems in development that are grounded in socially-embedded experiences. These markers may result in altered developmental trajectories. The specific aims of the research are (1) to identify markers that distinguish between infants at risk for SLI or ASD and low risk controls; (2) to identify the predictors of later SLI and ASD diagnoses (at 36 months of age) from measures collected between 6 and 12 months of age; and (3) to compare developmental trajectories of key language and related social/cognitive measures between 6 and 36 months in infants with and without clinical outcomes. These aims will be pursued in a longitudinal prospective design following infants from 6 to 36 months of age. Data will be collected on language and social perception using behavioral, eye-tracking and neurophysiological measures as well as general measures of cognitive and brain development (head circumference; EEG). The findings from this research will have a significant impact on developing novel clinically useful methods for identifying infants at high risk for SLI and ASD; in turn this will improve their prognosis because it will open the doors for early entry into interventions that are known to lead to better outcomes.