Working Together: Interdisciplinary Research in Autism & Neurodevelopment

As part of the University of Missouri, the Thompson Center is fortunate to be able to collaborate with researchers from a variety of disciplines to further our understanding and expand services available to people with autism and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses.

The Research Core at the Thompson Center serves as a central resource to support, facilitate, and encourage high-impact, multidisciplinary research into the causes, pathophysiology, medical and behavioral differences, and treatment strategies for autism and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses. Research Core staff work jointly with research faculty at the Thompson Center and throughout the University of Missouri to store and access data from multiple studies, facilitate research subject recruitment including access to patient populations, and provide research-grade psychometric testing by certified autism psychometricians available to research teams gathering new data.

The following researchers are among the many collaborating with the Thompson Center Research Core on their studies:

Dr. Laura Morett, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, investigating the use of gestures as part of communication among those with ASD

Dr. Laura Morett and her team are recruiting for a new study that seeks to understand the relationship between gestures and language in individuals with autism, with the hopes of shedding light on the underlying mechanisms of communication differences experienced by many autistic individuals. The dynamic between gesture and speech is often taken for granted in neurotypical individuals but is often marked by disruption for people who are neurodivergent. Previous research has shown atypical activity and connectivity in the brains of autistic people in terms of social-communication, but the specific nuances of gesture-speech integration have remained largely unexplored.

For this study, children with and without autism will participate in tasks that involve only gestures, only spoken words, or a combination of gestures and spoken words. The researchers will use cutting-edge technology known as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to monitor brain activity throughout the tasks.

The research team is excited to utilize fNIRS in a new context. “We think it’s pretty cool because no other studies have done this before,” says Dr. Morett, “and our findings may be able to inform future interventions for kids with ASD and help reduce social-communicative barriers for them.”

Dr. Paul Carney, Pediatric Neurology, seeking treatment for the rare disorder, Baker-Gordon Syndrome

Baker-Gordon Syndrome is a rare, genetic form of autism resulting from a critical protein in the brain–called Synaptotagmin 1 or SYT1–not functioning properly. Children and adults with Baker-Gordon Syndrome have a variety of symptoms, ranging from intellectual disability, autism, behavioral problems, repetitive behaviors, problems with sleep, and even seizures in some cases.

Dr. Paul Carney was introduced to Baker-Gordon Syndrome just two years ago, when he evaluated a five-year-old patient at the Thompson Center for developmental delay. After an extensive evaluation, he discovered she had a SYT1 mutation. Dr. Carney did some research on the mutation and found that it had only recently been reported for the first time in England. After telling the patient’s parents that there were no known treatments for the disorder, the family raised $250,000 in just two weeks to start a pilot research program.

Dr. Carney and his team are ultimately trying to develop a novel treatment for children with Baker-Gordon Syndrome by leveraging models, cellular systems, and bioinformatics. They are working with the National Institutes of Health toward understanding the natural history of the disorder through parent interviews, onsite testing, brain imaging, and advanced genetics. Through collaboration with partners in bioinformatics, the team is using the information they’ve collected in conjunction with artificial intelligence to identify new purposes for existing medications.

In addition to research activities, this project also sparked a clinical component. Dr. Carney collaborated with Dr. Benjamin Black to start the MU Child Neurologic Rare Disease Clinic at the Thompson Center in 2022. This specialized clinic allows patients with Baker-Gordon Syndrome and other rare neurodevelopmental conditions to see a multidisciplinary healthcare team–including a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, child neurologist, genetic counselor, and social worker–all in one appointment. Dr. Black reflected on the impact the clinic has had on the Thompson Center: “We’ve all learned a lot through our clinical care in the Rare Disease Clinic, and that helps us all become better at what we do.”

In his 20 years as a pediatric neurologist and researcher, this project stands out to Dr. Carney because of the dedicated and passionate group of parents involved. The families have given input on what should be studied, raised research funds, and networked with other rare disease groups, researchers, and industry partners. “For a clinical scientist like me,” says Dr. Carney, “to have the trust of so many families is humbling.”

The Baker-Gordon Syndrome Foundation was formed by and for families to further this project. Their website, https://www.bagosfoundation.org/, has more information about the condition and a registry form for parents of children with Baker-Gordon Syndrome to fill out to get involved.

Dr. Brad Ferguson, Health Psychology and Radiology, & Dr. Fang Wang, Engineering, testing new technology to measure social communication outcomes

As an autism researcher, Dr. Brad Ferguson was often asking parents “how social has your child been over the past month?” It’s a difficult question for parents to quantify, and their answers can’t account for experiences their children have outside of the home at school or with friends. Relying on parent feedback to measure social communication often leads to inconsistent research findings.

Dr. Ferguson, along with Dr. David Beversdorf from the Thompson Center, reached out to Dr. Fang Wang from the MU College of Engineering to develop a new way to measure social interactions using technology. The result was an app for smartwatches called CORE Autism, which is currently being tested in the real world environment. Study participants first come to the Thompson Center to obtain a smartwatch that has the CORE Autism app installed. As part of the setup, the wearer’s voice is registered with the app so it can determine their voice compared to others. Then, as the study participant wears the watch for 2-3 weeks, it records the voices of the wearer and the people around them. The app automatically process the voices and sends the data to a dashboard for the research team. At the end of the study, the participant returns the watch and provides feedback on their experience.

This phase of the study is focused primarily on making sure the app consistently reports accurate data. The research team is manually analyzing the voice recordings and comparing their results to that of the app. The next step will be to develop ways for the app to determine if the wearer of the watch is experiencing anxiety or other emotions during a social interaction. Another possible way to further analyze the data in the future is to use a smartwatch’s location information to map where certain types of socialization are occurring. For example, this could show researchers whether a student engages in more conversation at home or at school.

The ultimate goals is to be able to use CORE Autism as a way to measure social communication outcomes during clinical trials testing potential treatments for autism and a variety of other groups, such as elderly people and stroke patients. When the measurements of the outcomes are more precise, it is easier to determine whether a particular therapy or medication is truly making a difference on a person’s social communication. This technology also has the potential to help clinicians monitor patients who are receiving treatments targeting verbal social abilities; these providers would be able to make adjustments to the treatment plan using remote feedback and without additional office visits.