Jed Elison, assistant professor, ICD, and co-authors have been recognized by the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) of the US Department of Health and Human Services for their article, White matter microstructure and atypical visual orienting in 7-month-olds at risk for autism. Annually, the IACC disseminates a list of scientific advances that “represent significant progress in the field,” producing the 2013 Summary of Advances. The IACC has selected these studies to recognize because they show new insight into the “complex causes of autism and potential risk factors, studied clues that could lead to earlier diagnosis, and evaluated promising early intervention strategies.”

In his article, Jed Elison and co-authors studied 7-month-old infants’ patterns of visual orienting to understand how atypical development of these patterns may affect later cognitive and social-cognitive development and which may represent an early feature indicating an autism spectrum disorder.

Elison JT, Paterson SJ, Wolff JJ, Reznick JS, Sasson NJ, Gu H, Botteron KN, Dager SR, Estes AM, Evans AC, Gerig G, Hazlett HC, Schultz RT, Styner M, Zwaigenbaum L, Piven J; IBIS Network. White matter microstructure and atypical visual orienting in 7-month-olds at risk for autism. Am J Psychiatry. 2013 Aug1;170(8):899-908. [PMID: 23511344]