Florida Atlantic Universitys Charles E. Schmidt College of Science has created a new Infant Development Laboratory in the Department of Psychology, headed by professor David Lewkowicz, Ph.D. The lab will study infant learning with the goal of identifying early signs of autism and other developmental disabilities. Lewkowicz hopes that this will facilitate the development of diagnostic tools that will make it possible to begin intervention at a much earlier stage.
“We are looking at how babies learn about the world through their senses, how they gather information and integrate that information to come up with a coherent view of the world. There is some fundamental mechanism that the brain uses to put it all together, to relate what we see with what we hear and feel,” says Lewkowicz. “One idea about autism is that those who are autistic lack this capacity for sensory integration. In our lab, we are looking at how normally developing babies acquire this ability.”
Finding answers to the mystery of autism has never been more imperative. The prevalence of the disorder is increasing at an alarming rate and taking an enormous human and financial toll. According to the Autism Society of America, autism currently occurs in 1 in every 166 births, compared to 1 in 2500 in the late 1980s (CDC). It affects as many as 1.5 million Americans and is growing at a rate of 10 – 17 % per year. At that rate, it could affect 4 million in the next decade. It is more common in boys than in girls and there is a 20% higher risk for siblings of an autistic child.
“Autism is real and is increasing. The care of autistic adults costs $90 million annually, and as the numbers continue to rise, the costs, to individual families and to society, will rise,” says Lewkowicz. Early diagnosis is critical because autism can cause severe impairment in the ability to communicate, learn and interact with others. It affects each individual in a unique way and with varying degrees of severity. Lewkowicz believes that early diagnosis is the critical “missing piece” that could dramatically improve the treatment of autism by making early intervention possible.
“We would like to develop standard diagnostic tools that pediatricians could use to assess all infants for communication and learning disorders. The majority of pediatricians are not trained in developmental pediatrics, so when a mother comes in and says that her baby is exhibiting behaviors that are not quite right the doctor may not recognize these as possible early signs of autism.”
Waiting for more clear-cut signs of autism means that precious time is lost. Early intervention services are based on the premise that the infant brain is much more responsive to intervention, so early therapies can make a significant difference in the childs developmental outcome, even interrupting the progression of some behaviors.
Lewkowicz has specialized in developmental psychology, with a focus on infant development, for 30 years. Before joining the FAU faculty in 2003, he conducted research at the Illinois Institute for Developmental Disabilities and the New York State Institute for Basic Research for Developmental Disabilities. His previous investigations have helped identify how perception, attention and cognition develop in infants, and how these processes change throughout early childhood.
According to Lewkowicz, “Thanks to advances in the field of infant development, we have a treasure trove of data about fundamental psychological processes. We now know how normally developing babies perceive and learn about their world and can apply new experimental methods to discovering how atypically developing babies differ. This will require a concerted research effort whose payoff will be the designing of new diagnostic tools that will enable us to diagnose a developmental disability months earlier than is possible now. This, in turn, will make it possible to institute early intervention procedures to prevent the devastating effects of developmental disabilities.”
The capacity to identify these disorders in early rather than late infancy will undoubtedly have a substantial impact on quality of life for children and adults with autism, and for their families. As the incidence of autism continues to skyrocket in the U.S., research into its causes, diagnosis and treatment is more critical than ever.
Lewkowicz envisions a future in which screening infants for developmental disabilities such as autism will be a standardized component of their early pediatric care. He and his colleagues at FAU are playing a critical ro
