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Autism
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Autism Treatment Network
Core Function: Research and Evaluation, Technical Assistance and Outreach Training
The mission of the Autism Treatment Network is to create a “gold standard” of medical treatment that will be made broadly available to physicians, researchers, parents, policy makers and others dedicated to enhancing the care of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This is achieved through the development of: 1) a shared National Medical Database to record the results of treatment and studies at the regional centers—an approach that has proven effective in enhancing care among other childhood disorders, 2) a resource network of collaborating professionals and institutions, and 3) monthly multidisciplinary clinics to provide coordinated care.
A number of associated medical conditions have been observed in the ASD population including, but not limited to: 1) gastrointestinal disorders, 2) seizure disorders, 3) disturbed sleep patterns, 4) environmental and food allergies, 5) irregular diaphragmatic control, 6) urinary bladder spasticity, 7) anxiety, depression, compulsions, hyperactivity, 7) tics, 8) hormonal irregularities in a subset of adolescent autistic girls, and 9) metabolic disorders. None of these conditions has been rigorously studied in autism and thus their frequency and relationship to the disorder remain largely unknown. The Autism Treatment Network meets this need by identifying and characterizing the various medical conditions described above and using this data to research and improve the treatment, care, and quality of life for individuals with ASD and their families.
A parallel goal of the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) is to establish a multi-center, collaborative database to be used as a tool for improving identification and characterization of various medical conditions associated with autism in children ages 3-18. Two initial areas of interest include sleep abnormalities and gastrointestinal disorders. While there are no interventions associated with this study, it is the ATN’s conviction that the database will be vital in formulating a variety of research studies in the near future as clinicians within the ATN collaboration generate hypotheses. The long-term goal is to expand investigation into other areas of medical interest, such as underlying metabolic conditions, as well as provide a solid denominator for specific interventional studies in the areas of focus. Using the observational data collected in the database, the primary common goal among the two target medical domains will be to investigate the characteristics of each type of disorder within a well-defined population of children with ASD. |
