Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are extremely common, with prevalence estimated at 1 in 110 children in theUnited States. Fifty to 96% of children with ASD demonstrate impaired executive control?the ability to managecomplex or conflicting information in the service of a goal. Development of appropriate executive control isrelevant to public health because these skills are critical for success in school, the workplace, and socialrelationships. Executive impairments in ASD have been well documented, but have received virtually nointervention research attention. Further, development of neural systems underlying executive control in ASDand their contribution to social function and symptoms remain poorly understood. The proposed project has thefollowing scientific goals: (1) to determine the neural basis of executive control in children with ASD using twowell-established electrophysiological measures (K99 period); (2) to test whether individual electrophysiologicaldifferences in executive control are meaningfully related to the social function and symptoms of children withASD (R00 period); and (3) to assess whether brief, focused training in executive control produces significantchanges in the brain function and behavior of children with ASD (R00 period). These goals will be addressedusing a common set of electrophysiological measures. During the mentored K99 phase, the neural response toexecutive control tasks by 30 children with ASD will be compared with 30 typically developing children. Duringthe independent phase, 60 children with ASD will be randomly assigned to receive brief executive controltraining or to a waitlist. Individual differences in neural response and their relation to social ability will beassessed in all children prior to intervention. The major career development objectives are: the completion ofDr. Susan Faja's training in electrophysiology and the launching of her career as an independent scientist withthe long-term goal of examining brain-behavioral changes associated with intervention. Dr. Faja is a clinicalpsychologist with a background in clinical research including development of a brief computer intervention forindividuals with ASD. The proposed career development builds on current work as a senior postdoctoral fellowthat employs electrophysiological methods with individuals with ASD. The specific career development goalsare: (1) to provide training in electrophysiological methods crucial to investigating brain-behavior relationshipsrelated to executive control and response to intervention; (2) to address specific gaps in clinical and statisticaltraining: (3) to support Dr. Faja's transition to an independent position, and (4) to foster skills in grant and labmanagement. The mentored phase will occur at the University of Washington, which has a strong record oftraining autism researchers and supporting career awards. Mentors include Drs. Sara Webb, Wendy Stone andMichael Posner, who provide considerable expertise in electrophysiology, professional development of clinicalresearchers, and executive control and its enhancement via training, respectively. The project is aligned withNIH's goal of developing a strong cohort of investigators to address the nation's behavioral and clinicalresearch needs and with the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Strategic Plan, which stipulates theneed for bio-behavioral studies of individual differences and the development of novel treatments for school-aged children with ASD.
Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)
Autism Research Database (AFD)
