A professor in the College of Arts and Sciences was awarded a grant worth more than $2 million to fund her research project on autism spectrum disorders.

Natalie Russo, an assistant professor of psychology, received the money from the Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists, a National Institute of Health program that helps fund the research of scientists in the early stages of their career.

Russo said in an email that she will be studying how children with autism process sensory information, such as sight, sound and touch, their brain activity when processing information and how it relates back to sensory symptoms seen in people with autism.

Parents of children with an ASD say that their children have sensory processing difficulties, which interferes with everyday tasks, Peter Vanable, professor of psychology and department chair, said in an email. Studies show that parents can notice a developmental problem before their child turns one, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents could also notice problems in their child’s hearing and vision in the child’s first year.

The goal of the project is to understand how autistic individuals’ processing strengths and weaknesses work together, and how those characteristics influence the way they perceive the world, Russo said.

“If we find consistent patterns in the data, then this could help with earlier objective diagnosis or else helping us to tailor interventions that can help mitigate some of the sensory difficulties in autism,” she said.

With the grant, Russo said she will be able to get the resources she needs, recruit participants and pay them for their time in the lab. She added that the BRAINS grant gives her access to a panel of senior researchers as a “sounding board” to provide support and help with her research.

Receiving a major research project grant from the NIH this early in Russo’s career is a remarkable achievement, Vanable said, adding, that these grants are “very hard to come by.”

It is important to study ASD because traditionally, society doesn’t understand what people with autism could contribute, Russo said. She added that diagnosis rates have gone up in recent years, which means that better understanding children with autism has become important ¬— according to the CDC, about one in 88 children has been identified with ASD.

“For a long time, individuals with autism were discarded as valuable members of society,” she said. “And yet, they have so many skills and are better at some things than we are, and I think it’s important to understand these folks so that we can help them uncover their strengths and allow them to lead meaningful productive lives.”

Published on February 25, 2014 at 1:27 am

Contact Ellen: ekmeyers@syr.edu | @ellenkmeyers