UIC recently received a $9.6 million, five-year grant for autism research provided by the National Institutes of Health. With the grant, UIC plans to establish an Autism Center of Excellence, becoming the only funded center for autism in the Midwest and one of only five in the entire country.
The Autism Center is intended to include neuroimaging, biochemistry, neurophysiology, behavioral and genetics aspects designed to treat and investigate common autism-related problems. Principal researchers Edwin Cook, John Sweeney, Michael Ragozzino, Thomas Owley, Robert Gibbons, Bennett Leventhal, Jeff Salt, James Sutcliffe and Nancy Cox will be focusing specifically on the autism symptom called insistence on sameness ? a common repetitive behavior.
All autistic individuals struggle with repetitive behavior, including motor behavior (such as hand flapping), stereotype language (such as reciting the same thing over and over), unusual sensory interests (such as searching out certain textures), playing with objects in an impractical way (such as lining items up) and compulsive behaviors. One type of repetitive behavior is especially debilitating, according to Camille Brune, Ph.D., assistant professor for the Institute of Juvenile Research: insistence on sameness (IS). IS includes compulsive behavior and an unwillingness to accept changes in the environment (like the way a room is set up), personal appearance and routines. Autistic individuals with IS may throw tantrums or even become violent in reaction to change.
"Problems related to repetitive behaviors, such as anxiety and aggression, are among the most troublesome and debilitating for individuals with autism and their families," according to Dr. Edwin Cook, director of the UIC Autism Center of Excellence.
Insistence on sameness "is probably the most common reason why individuals with autism receive psychiatric care and psychopharmacological treatment," said Brune. Relieving these symptoms can immediately and dramatically improve the lives of those with autism and their families.
Though available medications already help some autistic individuals, many patients only partially respond or do not respond at all. UIC researchers have proposed investigating the role of serotonin, a chemical that has been linked to both autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as a consideration in medicating autism patients with IS.
Investigators plan to "use advances in genetic, pharmacological and behavioral research to investigate the importance of serotonin for autism and behavioral flexibility," while utilizing "imaging studies [to] provide the opportunity to directly see, in patients, both the brain changes related to the neural substrate of IS and how they change with effective serotonergic treatment," said Brune.
Research in this area has the possibility of making major advances in the treatment of many autistic individuals and subsequently improving the quality of life for these persons. Advances could also create a realistic chance for adults with autism to live independently.
While all individuals with ASDs struggle with repetitive behavior, it is estimated that about one-third of these individuals display difficulty with IS. Autism is the most severe autism spectrum disorder, effecting one in 150 children in the United States. Pervasive developmental disorder and Aperger's disorder are similar but milder ASDs.
According to Brune, ASDs are distinguished by problems in communication and social behaviors along with repetitive behavior. There are different degrees of autism and each individual expresses different levels of symptoms. To be diagnosed with autism, these symptoms must appear by age three. Autistic individuals may avoid social contact, avoid eye contact, have problems developing friendships and have trouble communicating. While some autistic toddlers are considerably delayed, some reach developmental milestones (such as talking) much earlier than usual.
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