Hannah Durham graduated from USC this past May and is currently a research assistant in our lab. She has accepted a clinical research specialist position at the Center for Autism and Brain Development at Duke University Medical Center! She will be joining a team who is studying the efficacy of umbilical cord blood infusion for improving outcomes of children with autism spectrum disorder. Congratulations!!
Alexis Ruber received a Science Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) award. Alexis will examine eye contact during a social interaction among mothers of children with fragile X syndrome and mothers of children with autism. The study also aims to examine the relationship between sympathetic arousal, measured by skin conductance, and eye contact in these groups. Congratulations, Alexis!
Our list of publications and presentations for 2015 has been updated based on our activities over the past year. Check out any of the links to see what we’ve been researching!
New research by members of the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Lab has been recently highlighted by the Fragile X Society. This research focuses on reading development and the role of phonological skills in boys with fragile X syndrome. Read more about our research and potential implications for teaching children with fragile X syndrome to read!
Alexis Brewe was named a Magellan scholar in Spring 2015 and awarded a grant for her project on analyzing social play behaviors, such as “showing” and initiating joint attention, as early indicators of autism in high-risk infants. Congratulations, Alexis!
In 2015, Dr. Laura Hahn was awarded an ASPIRE: Advanced Support for Innovative Research Excellence by the University of South Carolina to support her research on early development in Down syndrome. This Down syndrome infant study will examine early visual attention, social initiation, and physiological responses. The results of this work will help her to better understand early development in Down syndrome in order to promote positive development and well-being in these children and their families.
Emily Schworer will be attending Colorado State University in the Fall of 2015 and pursuing a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Science. She will be mentored by Dr. Deborah Fidler in the Developmental Disabilities Research Laboratory, working with children with Down syndrome. Congratulations, Emily!
Claire Harryman, an undergraduate research assistant with the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Lab and a recipient of the USC Magellan Scholar award, has been accepted to the University of South Carolina’s School of Medicine for the fall of 2016. Congratulations, Claire!
Undergraduate student Anna Porter presented her poster titled The Relation Between Anxiety and Heart Rate in Women with the FMR1 Premutation During Direct and Averted Gaze at the 2015 University of South Carolina Discovery Day. The poster received the first place award in the Psychology and Neurosciences B section. Congratulations, Anna!
Congratulations to Geoff Marston, an undergraduate research assistant with the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Research Lab, for receiving the Capstone Scholars’ Magellan Apprentice award! This award allows promising students to engage in mentored research. Geoff’s project will focus on the relationship between autonomic functioning and cognitive styles in women with the FMR1 premutation.
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