Vanderbilt researchers have established a link between the neurotransmitter serotonin and certain behaviors of some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a link that may lead to new treatments for ASD.

Dora Angelaki, Ph.D., the Wilhelmina Robertson Professor and chair of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, will provide a “computational perspective on autism” during the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Jan. 14.

Julie Lounds Taylor, Ph.D., has been appointed to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, (IACC) the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced recently.

Beth Malow, M.D., M.S., has been appointed to the Tennessee Autism Spectrum Disorder Task Force, a new entity created to study and make recommendations to the Tennessee General Assembly regarding ways to improve access to programs and services for early screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Tennessee.

Children with autism who participated in a 10-week, 40-hour, theatre-based program showed significant differences in social ability compared to a group of children with autism who did not participate, according to a Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has awarded a five-year, $10 million training grant to Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), continuing a 16-year partnership to provide education and training opportunities for school personnel throughout the state.

There is growing evidence that disorders such as autism and schizophrenia involve deficits in what is called “multi-sensory processing,” the ability of the brain to properly integrate information coming in through the eyes, ears and other senses.