Intellectual and Developmental Disability News

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.

LAWRENCE — To better serve families, University of Kansas researchers are examining the use of standardized assessments of support needs for children with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities.

Across the country, more and more young people are being diagnosed as with autism spectrum disorder, including those with high-functioning autism. Yet there is little research into how to help educators serve students with high-functioning autism, especially adolescents in middle and high school settings. New research from the University of Kansas shows that interventions can be successful in helping this population and calls for more research in the area.

While much research has been devoted to the social and communication issues that define autism spectrum disorders (ASD), much less is known about motor deficits that affect the majority of, if not all, individuals with ASD. These include not only repetitive behaviors such as hand flapping and rocking, but also problems with both fine and gross motor skills such as walking, feeding, and lifting and holding objects.