Leonard Abbeduto | |
---|---|
Citizenship | United States of America |
Occupation(s) | Tsakopoulos-Vismara Endowed Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences |
Awards | Enid and William Rosen Research Award Kellett Mid-Career Research Award Emil H. Steiger Distinguished Teaching Award |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Illinois at Chicago |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Psychology |
Institutions | MIND Institute,University of California,Davis |
Leonard Abbeduto is a psychologist known for his research on individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders,including Fragile X syndrome,autism spectrum disorder,and Down syndrome,and factors that influence their linguistic development over the lifespan. [1] He is the Tsakopoulos-Vismara Endowed Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of California,Davis. He serves as Director of Research at the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopment Disorders (MIND) Institute, [2] [3] [4] which was launched in 2001. [3] Prior to his affiliation with the University of California,Davis,Abbeduto was the Associate Director for Behavioral Sciences at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [5] [4]
Abbeduto received various awards during his tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Madison including the Kellett Mid-Career Research Award and the Emil A. Steiger Award for Distinguished Teaching. [6] In 2010,Abbeduto received the Enid and William Rosen Research Award from the National Fragile X Foundation. [6]
Abbeduto has authored several books including Taking Sides:Clashing Views in Educational Psychology [7] and Guide to Human Development for Future Educators. [8] He co-authored Language and Communication in Mental Retardation:Development,Processes and Intervention, with Sheldon Rosenberg. [9] A review,published by the Linguistic Society of America, [10] acknowledges the complexity of research on language development in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and describes the book as valuable and useful to the field. [10]
Abbeduto received his Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1975. He also completed both his Master of Arts (1979) and his Ph.D. (1982) in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. [11] Abbeduto's dissertation was titled Syntactic and semantic influences on the motor programming of speech:Developmental differences and similarities. [12]
Earlier in his career,Abbeduto served as Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [4] Abbeduto's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1985, [6] including more than $3 million awarded to the MIND institute in 2013 by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development to support research on Fragile X syndrome and Down syndrome. [13] [14] These awards have allowed Abbeduto to conduct research using expressive language sampling to gain information on the linguistic development of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. [13]
Abbeduto is Editor of the American Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. [11] [5]
Abbeduto is known for his research on behavioral,cognitive,and linguistic development of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities. [3] [11] Abbeduto's early research focused on children's developing knowledge about the presuppositions of cognitive verbs,including factives and nonfactives,which indicated that some cognitive verbs were not mastered until after age 7. [15] In other early research,Abbeduto examined the conversational skills of adults with mild intellectual disability,focusing on the use of grammatical morphemes and complex sentence constructions as measures of language competence. His research indicated positive trajectories in the linguistic development of individuals with intellectually disabilities. [16]
Still early in his career,Abbeduto began researching the communicative and linguistic impairments associated with Fragile X syndrome and the potential opportunities for intervention with this population. [17] He has contributed to research on Fragile X syndrome,not only by focusing on communication and language development,but also by studying the development of social avoidance through longitudinal studies. Abbeduto and his colleagues discovered that social avoidance,which is common in individuals with Fragile X syndrome,increases during childhood but then levels off during adulthood. [18]
Abbeduto found that there are important clinical differences between autism and Fragile X syndrome,which have implications for treatment. [18] Abbeduto's research at University of California,Davis focuses on building interventions for children and teens with Fragile X syndrome. These interventions include both behavioral and pharmacological treatment components and target specific language skills,including narrative abilities. [11]
Abbeduto's research also involves studies of language impairments associated with Down syndrome,with some of his research findings suggesting that individuals with Down syndrome produce fewer verbs than comparison groups. [19]
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, was previously considered a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests. The syndrome is no longer recognised as a diagnosis in itself, having been merged with other disorders into autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was considered to differ from other diagnoses that were merged into ASD by relatively unimpaired spoken language and intelligence.
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disorder characterized by mild-to-moderate intellectual disability. The average IQ in males with FXS is under 55, while about two thirds of affected females are intellectually disabled. Physical features may include a long and narrow face, large ears, flexible fingers, and large testicles. About a third of those affected have features of autism such as problems with social interactions and delayed speech. Hyperactivity is common, and seizures occur in about 10%. Males are usually more affected than females.
The diagnostic category pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), as opposed to specific developmental disorders (SDD), was a group of disorders characterized by delays in the development of multiple basic functions including socialization and communication. It was defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
A pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (Including atypical autism) (PDD-NOS) is one of four disorders which were collapsed into the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in the DSM-5 and also was one of the five disorders classified as a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in the DSM-IV. According to the DSM-4, PDD-NOS is a diagnosis that is used for "severe or pervasive impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction and/or verbal and nonverbal communication skills, or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and/or activities are present, but the criteria are not met for a specific PDD" or for several other disorders. PDD-NOS includes atypical autism, because the criteria for autistic disorder are not met, for instance because of late age of onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these. Even though PDD-NOS is considered milder than typical autism, this is not always true. While some characteristics may be milder, others may be more severe.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that begins in early childhood, persists throughout adulthood, and affects three crucial areas of development: communication, social interaction and restricted patterns of behavior. There are many conditions comorbid to autism spectrum disorder such as fragile X syndrome and epilepsy.
Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions.
The UC Davis MIND Institute is a research and treatment center affiliated with the University of California, Davis, with facilities located on the UC Davis Medical Center campus in Sacramento, California. The institute is a consortium of scientists, educators, physicians and parents dedicated to researching the causes of and treatments for autism spectrum disorders, fragile X syndrome, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The director of the MIND institute is Dr. Leonard Abbeduto.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to autism:
Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living". Developmental disabilities can be detected early on and persist throughout an individual's lifespan. Developmental disability that affects all areas of a child's development is sometimes referred to as global developmental delay.
Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of disorders that affect the development of the nervous system, leading to abnormal brain function which may affect emotion, learning ability, self-control, and memory. The effects of neurodevelopmental disorders tend to last for a person's lifetime.
XXYY syndrome is a sex chromosome anomaly in which males have 2 extra chromosomes, one X and one Y chromosome. Human cells usually contain two sex chromosomes, one from the mother and one from the father. Usually, females have two X chromosomes (XX) and males have one X and one Y chromosome (XY). The appearance of at least one Y chromosome with a properly functioning SRY gene makes a male. Therefore, humans with XXYY are genotypically male. Males with XXYY syndrome have 48 chromosomes instead of the typical 46. This is why XXYY syndrome is sometimes written as 48, XXYY syndrome or 48, XXYY. It affects an estimated one in every 18,000–40,000 male births.
Muteness or mutism is defined as an absence of speech while conserving or maintaining the ability to hear the speech of others. Mutism is typically understood as a person's inability to speak, and commonly observed by their family members, caregivers, teachers, doctors or speech and language pathologists. It may not be a permanent condition, as muteness can be caused or manifest due to several different phenomena, such as physiological injury, illness, medical side effects, psychological trauma, developmental disorders, or neurological disorders. A specific physical disability or communication disorder can be more easily diagnosed. Loss of previously normal speech (aphasia) can be due to accidents, disease, or surgical complication; it is rarely for psychological reasons.
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. It is defined by an IQ under 70, in addition to deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors that affect everyday, general living. Intellectual functions are defined under DSM-V as reasoning, problem‑solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from instruction and experience, and practical understanding confirmed by both clinical assessment and standardized tests. Adaptive behavior is defined in terms of conceptual, social, and practical skills involving tasks performed by people in their everyday lives.
Kanner syndrome, officially childhood autism, was a neurodevelopmental diagnosis before the release of the DSM-5 and ICD-11. It has been superceded by autism spectrum disorder. In daily speech it is often referred to as “classic autism”, or “Kanner autism.”
Several factors complicate the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (AS), an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Like other ASD forms, Asperger syndrome is characterized by impairment in social interaction accompanied by restricted and repetitive interests and behavior; it differs from the other ASDs by having no general delay in language or cognitive development. Problems in diagnosis include disagreement among diagnostic criteria, the controversy over the distinction between AS and other ASD forms or even whether AS exists as a separate syndrome, and over- and under-diagnosis for non-technical reasons. As with other ASD forms, early diagnosis is important, and differential diagnosis must consider several other conditions.
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or sometimes autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and the presence of repetitive behavior and restricted interests. Other common signs include unusual responses to sensory stimuli, and an insistence on sameness or strict adherence to routine.
Nagwa Abdel Meguid is an Egyptian geneticist and 2002 winner of the L’Oreal UNESCO Award for Women in Science for Africa and the Middle East. Her research has "identified several genetic mutations that cause common syndromes such as the fragile X syndrome and Autism".
Randi J. Hagerman, M.D., is the medical director of MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis. She works for the pediatrics department under the division of child development and behavior. She is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of genetics of autism spectrum disorder with special focus on genomic instability. Along with her husband Paul Hagerman, she discovered the Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), a neurological disorder that affects older male and rare female carriers of fragile X.
Connie Kasari is an expert on autism spectrum disorder and a founding member of the Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Kasari is Professor of Psychological Studies in Education at UCLA and Professor of Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She is the leader of the Autism Intervention Research Network for Behavioral Health, a nine-institution research consortium.
Social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD) - previously called semantic-pragmatic disorder (SPD) or pragmatic language impairment (PLI) - is a disorder in understanding pragmatic aspects of language. People with SPCD have special challenges with the semantic aspect of language and the pragmatics of language. Individuals have difficulties with verbal and nonverbal social communication.
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