Intellectual and Developmental Disability News

A new paper in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical from researchers at the University of Kansas reveals a possible early indicator of Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, or FXTAS.

When COVID-19 prompted the closure of the University of Kansas campus, Dana Lattin had faith that students in KU Transition to Postsecondary Education, or TPE, could adapt to their new online experiences. 

Assistant Research Professor Kathryn Unruh has received the inaugural Stephen and Carolyn Schroeder Young Investigator Award for Research in Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Established by the former Life Span Institute director and his wife, the $10,000 award is intended for Life Span Institute-affiliated early-career investigators, post-docs, and graduate students whose work involves biobehavioral approaches to neurodevelopment.  

Four University of Kansas researchers join three former presidents and four former senators of the United States as honorees among 87 recognized for transforming the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities during the past 20 years in the United States. 

University of Kansas researchers have secured three grants to advance understanding of how to support people with disabilities to participate in the most important decisions about their lives.

The neurological disorder FXTAS (pronounced “fax-tas”) stems from a genetic premutation seen in one of every 151 women and one of every 468 men, called the FMR1 premutation.

The Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute and the Kansas Chapter of the National Fragile X Foundation will co-host a conference on FMR1 gene disorders that will bring together family members, caregivers, researchers, educators, therapists and individuals who want to learn more about this genetic disorder.

A new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology by researchers at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute is the first to look at functional brain activity in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) while they performed precision visuomotor behavior — in this case, a grip-force test. The authors found new evidence sensorimotor changes in people with autism involve abnormal cortical and subcortical organization “that may contribute to key clinical issues in patients.” 

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas researchers have secured grant funding that will allow them to develop virtual reality technology to help students with high functioning autism and learning disabilities learn social competencies and apply them to their everyday lives and education.

Beginning Nov. 10, the Spencer Museum of Art will host the exhibition “Hope 22,” which features 22 portraits of veterans and active duty personnel accompanied by written accounts of their experiences with the military and mental health. The traveling exhibition, co-sponsored at the University of Kansas by the Lt. Gen. William K.