Research suggests using brain imaging in high risk children may predict problems as young at six months old. A multicenter research team led jointly by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has received a five year $9.5 million grant to evaluate whether brain imagining can help detect if there is a very high risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in early infancy.
Researchers believe that if they can detect evidence of the disorder earlier, behavioral interventions can begin sooner than currently possible which may help improve outcomes for affected children.
NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health, awarded funds so scientists could continue research efforts in the “Infant Brain Imaging Study” (IBIS) network https://www.ibis-network.org. Families who want to participate in the study will need to travel to the IBIS screening site nearest their hometown for brain scans and clinical testing. The imagining sites are in St. Louis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chapel Hill, N.C, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.