News and Knowledge

In 2011, OAR’s Scientific Council selected seven applied research projects for funding. This month, we describe a study being conducted by a researcher at the Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md.

Study

A Preliminary Investigation of the Neurobehavioral Basis of Sensory Behavior in Autism

Researcher

Ericka Wodka, Ph.D., Hugo W. Moser Research Institute, Kennedy Krieger Institute

Purpose

To investigate competing hypotheses about why children with autism display abnormal sensory behavior.

Why Is This Study Needed?

Abnormal sensory behaviors are among the most common behavioral concerns of parents of children with autism, often causing significant family stress. A variety of (often unsupported) therapies and treatments are offered to children with autism and their families in community-based centers and schools, aimed at addressing these sensory-related problems. As a result, considerable time and financial resources are dedicated to such therapies. To date, there is little appropriate scientific evidence to support or justify these treatments.

Within the same sample of children (with and without autism), Dr. Wodka will examine the relationship between basic tactile perception (e.g., differences in the way things feel), attention (e.g., ability to shift attention from one stimulus to another), language (e.g., vocabulary knowledge and expression), and abnormal sensory behaviors in order to inform treatment and intervention targets and goals. This study will be the first to consider multiple “competing” models to explain abnormal sensory behavior in autism. Clearly defining processes that could serve as intervention targets (that could potentially be more easily, efficiently, or effectively addressed) not only could improve the quality of life for children with autism and their families, but could also reduce time and financial burdens.

Study Methodology in Brief

The study proposes to assess 50 children — 25 children with ASD, and 25 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched typically developing children, ages 8-12 years. Children will be recruited from an ongoing NIH-funded project.

The study design will not only attempt to replicate previous work demonstrating abnormalities in sensory behavior in ASD, but will include performance-based and parent-report measures of multiple neurobehavioral functions in order to better understand what mechanisms are driving these unwanted behaviors. Importantly, Dr. Wodka will examine competing and potentially overlapping areas of functioning that would imply different intervention approaches, targets, and goals.

Specifically, if a unique relationship between sensory behavior/bottom-up mechanisms is uncovered, intervention targeting desensitization would be supported. In contrast, if a unique relationship between sensory behavior and top-down mechanisms is supported, intervention targeting behavior modification and language development would be supported. If an overlapping relationship between top-down and bottom-up mechanisms is identified, a combined methodology treatment approach would be implicated.

About the Researcher

Dr. Ericka Wodka is a pediatric neuropsychologist on the faculty of the Kennedy Krieger Institute in the Center for Autism and Related Disorders and Department of Neuropsychology. Dr. Wodka is currently collaborating with Center researchers on current projects examining neuro-anatomic correlates of motor difficulties observed in children with autism, as well as cognitive aspects of sensory difficulties reported by children with autism. Her past research interests include examining the neuropsychological functioning of children with ADHD and Sickle Cell Disease.