News and Knowledge

In 2015, OAR’s Board of Directors authorized funding for eight new applied autism research studies in 2016. These new grants, totaling $229,794, bring OAR’s total research funding to over $3.5 million since 2002. This is the fourth of eight previews that will be featured in The OARacle over the next few months.

Despite growing recognition that a large number of individuals with autism are also diagnosed with psychiatric disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and bipolar disorder, there is a dearth of knowledge about this population, such as their developmental trajectories and adult outcomes. In fact, it is estimated that up to 70 percent of individuals with ASD also have psychiatric symptoms that warrant a diagnosis of a disorder.

In order to develop targeted and evidence-based services for those individuals, it is important to first find out how they differ from those with autism alone, which psychiatric disorder seems to confer most disadvantage in terms of developmental trajectories, what treatments and services are currently available to them, and whether deficiency in environmental supports – such as health insurance benefits, medications, or school programs – may influence adult outcomes in this population.

OAR-funded researcher Juhi Kaboski, Ph.D., research assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, is hoping to answer some of these questions with her research study, “Comorbidities in ASD: Developmental Trajectories and Predictors of Adult Outcomes.” With her research team, she plans to analyze data from three large longitudinal (meaning that the participants in all of the datasets were queried repeatedly over time) datasets. Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, the datasets were collected with the intention of capturing a national picture of children and families with disabilities, treatments and services offered/received, achievements and unmet needs, and outcomes of individuals with disabilities in the United States.

Study Focus

When combined, these datasets contain a nationally representative sample of 2,277 individuals with ASD between the ages of 3 and 26 who received special education services. The information contained in the datasets was obtained from the individuals themselves, their caregivers, and their teachers. The longitudinal nature of the datasets, the nationally representative nature of the samples, and the fact that when combined, the ages of the participants span young childhood to adulthood, each allow the researchers to address issues that have not previously been studied.

The study will focus on the most common psychiatric conditions in individuals with

ASD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional disturbances. The term “emotional disturbances” is not a clinical diagnosis but an umbrella term used in special education to categorize any emotional or behavior condition that severely interferes with learning. Depression, anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are the primary diagnoses included in this umbrella term.

Outcomes

The findings of the study will inform parents, educators, professionals, and policy makers in their attempts to better understand this population and to provide evidence-based treatments and school interventions that could provide this group with better outcomes for their adult lives.

Dr. Kaboski hopes that the study will:

• Produce results that are applicable to the general population of individuals with autism
• Shed light on the possible long-term ramifications of receiving various existing interventions and accommodations offered by schools. The type and level of services utilized by students often depend on the availability of funds and state mandates, not necessarily on the individual needs or evidence of effectiveness at meeting the unique needs of the individual students who have both a diagnosis of ASD and a psychiatric disorder.
• Highlight school interventions that are more effective at achieving certain adult outcome goals for this particular population. In turn, this knowledge will aid educators and policy makers to implement more targeted interventions and school services.
• Inform how medication is used and what medication is used for individuals with autism. While there are currently no FDA-approved psychopharmacological treatments for core symptoms of ASD, individuals with ASD often take psychotropic medication to treat core symptoms of autism and psychiatric disorders.

Dr. Kaboski’s ultimate goal is for the knowledge gained from her study to be used to further the efforts of educators, clinicians, and policy makers in implementing effective and targeted pharmacological treatments and/or school interventions that could minimize personal distress, optimize health and functional outcomes, and maximize chances of productive contribution to society for those who experience the challenges of having both autism and psychiatric disorders.