autism spectrum disorders

January 23, 2024

Beth Malow receives grant to mount sleep program for children with autism

Vanderbilt neurologist Beth Malow, MD, has received a grant from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to mount a community-based educational program for improving sleep in children with autism spectrum disorder.

By Paul Govern
August 17, 2023

Grant aids drug discovery for autism, schizophrenia

Federal grant to help Vanderbilt researchers will pave the way for potential treatments for schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder

By Paul Govern
May 10, 2022

Autism and sleep problems

Vanderbilt researchers developed a framework for using de-identified medical records to characterize sleep in people on the autism spectrum — a framework that should also be useful for studying other neurodevelopmental disorders.

By Emily Stembridge
April 28, 2022

ASD study explores link between repetitive motion, depression

A Vanderbilt found that research into depression risk and resilience factors for adults with ASD is also critical to guide proper screening and intervention efforts.

By Emily Stembridge
autism concept: puzzle
April 21, 2022

Children with autism report greater gender diversity: study

Vanderbilt researchers found that children with autism report higher rates of gender diversity — the way in which an individual experiences gender distinct from social norms for their gender assigned at birth — than their typically developing peers.

By Emily Stembridge
September 30, 2021

Project seeks to make zoos more autism-friendly

Vanderbilt is collaborating with Oregon State University and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to support the Modeling Zoos and Aquariums as Inclusive Communities of Science (MoZAICS) project.

By Emily Stembridge
March 11, 2021

Youth with ASD have higher body mass index: study

Vanderbilt researchers have concluded that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have higher body mass index (BMI) percentiles when compared to youth with typical development.
By Emily Stembridge
September 17, 2020

Eskind gift to boost research on autism spectrum disorder

Donna and Jeffrey Eskind, whose generous gifts have advanced Vanderbilt research that is improving lives, have made a new commitment of $2 million to endow a new chair in autism spectrum disorder research in the School of Medicine.
By Ann Marie Deer Owens
August 13, 2020

ACM gift aims to improve lives of children with autism spectrum disorder

ACM Lifting Lives, the charitable arm of the Academy of Country Music, has made a generous gift to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for programs and research demonstrating the healing power of music to improve the lives of children with autism spectrum disorder.
By VUMC News and Communications
April 21, 2020

Reducing stress in parents of children with autism

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders benefited from the addition of mindfulness-based stress reduction to parent-implemented behavioral interventions.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 26, 2020

Prevalence of autism rising in the U.S., new report finds

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among U.S. 8-year-olds rose 10% between 2014 and 2016, new data published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate.
By Kelsey Herbers
December 5, 2019

Study reveals mysteries of critical brain receptor complex

Poorly functioning AMPARs have been linked to a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders including seizures, Alzheimer’s disease, major depression and autism spectrum disorder. Understanding how AMPARs are formed and operate is essential for the rational design of pharmacological compounds that, by tuning AMPAR activity up or down, could improve treatment of these conditions.
By Bill Snyder
November 7, 2019

Study explores genetic risk profiling of insomnia in autism

Vanderbilt researchers are studying how genes affect sleep and circadian disturbances in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with a goal of creating a genetic risk profile of insomnia in ASD.
By Kelsey Herbers