Following Up with Infants with a Unique Biomarker for ASD

This project will expand an existing longitudinal study that tracked children from infancy and recently reported that a high proportion of those who were later diagnosed with autism showed an excess volume of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains when they were 6 months old. To date, assessment of these infants stopped at a diagnosis. This student will administer additional assessments to these families to determine whether this increase in cerebrospinal fluid persists as the children age, whether it’s associated with any behavioral features including attention difficulties, executive function and ADHD, and whether it predicts differences in autism severity.