Autism Baby Siblings Study

Marcus Autism Center is studying newborns to learn more about how babies learn and grow. Overall, this research study aims to lean how babies develop and how babies with a family history of autism may be developing differently compared to babies without a family history of autism. By studying babies with and without a family history of autism, we hope to find better ways to identify autism earlier and find better ways to support children and families with autism.

Pregnant women or those within four months postpartum and
Infant or expected infant has a family history of autism (ie sibling (biological or half), parent, aunt or uncle)

In our autism baby siblings’ study, your baby’s development through their first 3 years of life will be monitored in order to learn more about infant development from multiple perspectives. Your baby will have a series of clinical assessments that are play based and help us learn about your baby’s social, cognitive, and motor skill development. We will examine how your baby is viewing the world by showing them short video clips and tracking their eye movements. We will ask you to make audio recording of your child as they begin to talk to understand infant’s vocalizations. We will also look at how your baby’s brain is physically developing using MRI (a safe and non-invasive) technology.

We understand that every family is different and so every family’s participation in our study may look different. We would be more than happy to speak with you directly to discuss your family’s participation!

Our research broadly looks at how babies grow and learn over their first 3 years of life so we can find better ways to identify autism earlier and find better ways to support children and families with autism