Academic achievement patterns and their relationships with intellectual ability, social abilities, and problem behavior are described in a sample of 30 higher-functioning, 9-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both social abilities and problem behavior have been found to be predictive of academic achievement in typically developing children but this has not been well studied in children with ASD. Participants were tested for academic achievement and intellectual ability at age 9. Problem behaviors were assessed through parent report and social functioning through teacher report at age 6 and 9. Significant discrepancies between children's actual academic achievement and their expected achievement based on their intellectual ability were found in 27 of 30 (90%) children. Both lower than expected and higher than expected achievement was observed. Children with improved social skills at age 6 demonstrated higher levels of academic achievement, specifically word reading, at age 9. No relationship was found between children's level of problem behavior and level of academic achievement. These results suggest that the large majority of higher-functioning children with ASD show discrepancies between actual achievement levels and levels predicted by their intellectual ability. In some cases, children are achieving higher than expected, whereas in others, they are achieving lower than expected. Improved social abilities may contribute to academic achievement. Future studies should further explore factors that can promote strong academic achievement, including studies that examine whether intervention to improve social functioning can support academic achievement in children with ASD.

Scientific AbstractWe investigated repetitive and stereotyped behavior (RSB) and its relationship to morphometric measures of the basal ganglia and thalami in 3-4 year old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n=77) and developmental delay without autism (DD; n=34). Children were assessed through clinical evaluation and parent report using RSB-specific scales extracted from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), the Autism Diagnostic Interview, and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist. A subset of children with ASD (n=45), DD (n=14) and a group of children with typical development (TD; n=25) were also assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Children with ASD demonstrated elevated RSB across all measures compared to children with DD. Enlargement of the left and right striatum, more specifically the left and right putamen, and left caudate, was observed in the ASD compared to the TD group. However, nuclei were not significantly enlarged after controlling for cerebral volume. The DD group, in comparison to the ASD group, demonstrated smaller thalami and basal ganglia regions even when scaled for cerebral volume, with the exception of the left striatum, left putamen, and right putamen. Elevated RSB, as measured by the ADOS, was associated with decreased volumes in several brain regions: left thalamus, right globus pallidus, left and right putamen, right striatum and a trend for left globus pallidus and left striatum within the ASD group. These results confirm earlier reports that RSB is common early in the clinical course of ASD and, furthermore, demonstrate that such behaviors may be associated with decreased volumes of the basal ganglia and thalamus. IntroductionAutism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and the presence of restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior and interest. The repetitive and stereotyped behavior (RSB) domain encompasses a Send correspondence to Annette Estes, Ph.D., UW Autism Center, Box 357920, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. . This work was conducted at the University of Washington Autism Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. (Happe, Ronald, Plomin, 2006;Baron-Cohen & Belmonte, 2005). However, an "insistence on sameness" factor has been identified in several independent samples and genetic linkage in the 15q11-q13 region was found for families with children who scored high on this factor Cuccaro et al., 2003;Szatmari et al., 2006). The variability in severity, type, and even presence or absence of RSB among individuals diagnosed with ASD lends uncertainty as to its diagnostic significance. NIH Public AccessRSB is more often reported in individuals with ASD, as compared to those with developmental delay without autism (DD: Carcani-Rathwell, Rabe-Hasketh & Santosh, 2006;Bodfish, Symons, Parker & Lewis, 2000). Lower cognitive function increases the overall risk for RSB within ASD (Bishop, Richler & Lord, 2006;Estes, Dawson, Sterling, Munson, 2007;Richler, Bishop, Kleink...

We describe the first direct brain-to-brain interface in humans and present results from experiments involving six different subjects. Our non-invasive interface, demonstrated originally in August 2013, combines electroencephalography (EEG) for recording brain signals with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for delivering information to the brain. We illustrate our method using a visuomotor task in which two humans must cooperate through direct brain-to-brain communication to achieve a desired goal in a computer game. The brain-to-brain interface detects motor imagery in EEG signals recorded from one subject (the “sender”) and transmits this information over the internet to the motor cortex region of a second subject (the “receiver”). This allows the sender to cause a desired motor response in the receiver (a press on a touchpad) via TMS. We quantify the performance of the brain-to-brain interface in terms of the amount of information transmitted as well as the accuracies attained in (1) decoding the sender’s signals, (2) generating a motor response from the receiver upon stimulation, and (3) achieving the overall goal in the cooperative visuomotor task. Our results provide evidence for a rudimentary form of direct information transmission from one human brain to another using non-invasive means.

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