The purpose of our project is to examine functions we call “language ingredients”. These are functions that children develop before they start learning language and that are necessary to enable children to learn words and the structure of language. Among these basic functions are sensory integration (bringing together stimuli from different senses), imitation, and visual attention.  We use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study, for example, what brain areas become active when an individual understands a sentence or attends to a visual shape on a screen. We can learn how the brain of an individual with autism does things differently and we can therefore explain why individuals with autism have such a hard time with certain functions, such as language, or excel at other, such as visual search.

We are currently looking for individuals diagnosed  with autism between the ages of 9 and 18 years old.

Children and families will receive compensation for participation as well as a report summarizing the results of a diagnositic work-up.

Study Participants Needed for Autism Research Study at The Salk Institute:

We are looking for adolescents(age 12-18) with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, siblings of people with an ASD diagnosis, and typically developing teens to participate in a vision research study.  Participants will be asked to sit in a quiet, dimly lit room and locate target images that appear on a computer screen.  The task will be similar to playing a simple video game.  Each volunteer may participate in a variable number of sessions, which will typically last 1 hour, with breaks provided upon request.  Participants will be compensated $10 per hour.

With your help, we hope to better understand how people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) process visual information differently than other individuals.

We will gladly share and explain the results of this study with participants and their parents.
Testing will be arranged to fit your schedule.  We offer weekday, evening, and weekend appointments.

For more information, please visit http://www.snl-k.salk.edu/autismRecruit.htm or contact Natalie at nat@salk.edu, (858)453-4100 x1531.

Project MOT:DET is a study dedicated to better understand how people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) understand information with their vision.  This study may help us find a new indicator foe ASD that could result in earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Requirements:

• Between 13-17 years old
• has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
• or has a sibling who has ASD
• has normal or corrected vision

We are looking to recruit teenagers to complete a number of games and tasks. The vision tasks are in the form of computer games where you are shown patterns and asked to respond to them.  WE will also be doing a number of picture puzzles, and word tasks.  It involves 2-3 hours of your time to distribute over 1-2 sessions.  Parents will be asked to complete two questionnaires about their child's behavior.

Parents will be given $10/hour for their child's participation, and the children will be given a small gift for their time.

The sessions will be held at Dr. Karen Dobkins' Vision Laboratory in the UCSD Department of Psycology. (http://psy/ucsd.edu/babylab/), at a time and date convient for you and your child.  We offer weekday, evening and weekend appointments.

Who can participate?

• Biological mothers and/or fathers of children diagnosed with autism between ages 3 to 12.
• Parents who are either married or living with a partner.
• Parents living in the same home as their child diagnosed with autism.
• Parents who only have one child diagnosed with autism.
• Parents who are not raising children with other ASD diagnoses, such as Fragile X Syndrome or Asperger Syndrome.

Why participate?

• It's quick and easy.
• To further research within the autism population, especially as it pertains to parents.
• To inspire future research!!
• To help clinicians better understand the stressors and changes parents undergo when raising a child with autism.
• TO be a part of research that will work to change the services available to parents.
• Enter to win one of two $50 Visa cash cards.
  

How to participate?

• Contact researcher, Marieka Rogers, MA at: 858.776.0408, or mariekarogers@hotmail.com
• Answer a brief screener for your participation.
• Set up an appointment with Marieka (willing to meet you at your home and provide care for your child while you fill out forms, if necessary or can be completed via mail).