Mapping developmental paths to neurodevelopmental conditions.

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Professor Emily Jones, Birkbeck
• Tuesday 03 December 2024, 16:00-17:00
• Hybrid: in-person in Cambridge & online via Teams.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Louise Gray.

In-person: Ground Floor Seminar Room, Old Cavendish Building, Free School Lane / Teams Meeting ID: 385 440 901 043, Passcode: XPXwGU

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that occurs in around 2% of people, and can be associated with differences in social interaction, communication and interests. Autism is connected with genetic changes that are present from conception, but is often not identified until children are in school. Prospective longitudinal studies that follow infants from near birth to childhood using brain imaging and scalable technologies can reveal the earliest developmental changes that precede the later emergence of autistic traits.

Here, I describe a series of studies examining some of the earliest changes in infants with later autism and their interrelation over both short and long timescales. Within prospective studies, we see differences in sensory reactivity across touch, audition and visual domains, and changes in sleep that precede an autism diagnosis. Sensory differences are related to sleep differences, and both may relate to emerging trajectories of fearfulness and later anxiety, indicating they may be important targets for supportive interventions. Further, changes in sleep may be linked to alterations in daytime brain states that have been associated with longer-term cognitive development.

Taken together, examining changes in early sensory development and sleep may provide important insights into the early development of children with neurodevelopmental conditions. I discuss how these approaches can help us think about neurodevelopment from the perspective of neurodiversity.

This talk is part of the Centre for Child, Adolescent & Family Research Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Centre for Child, Adolescent & Family Research Seminar Series
• Hybrid: in-person in Cambridge & online via Teams
• Psychology talks and events
• Yishu's list

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.