Abstract | Summary | Original Article

CAIRN team awarded $2.1 million grant
Largest ever for a Canadian autism study

What are the factors that influence how children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) fare over time? What are the predictors of success for these children? How can we identify new and better pathways that will improve their outcomes?

Parents, policy makers and service providers involved with CAIRN have long been pressing for the answers to these questions. At a recent CAIRN conference, they made this the number one priority for early intervention research.

Now, thanks to their relentless fight and CAIRN’s efforts to promote a national research agenda that’s responsive and relevant to consumers, the questions are about to be answered.

In what amounts to the largest grant ever awarded in Canada for a single autism study, a team of CAIRN researchers will receive just over $2.1 million to initiate a study in which children with ASD are followed over time with the purpose of identifying factors associated both with good outcomes and with challenging outcomes.

The funding will come from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) as part of its “Healthy Developmental Trajectories of Infants, Children and Youth” grants competition. The awards, announced August 16, are designed to fuel new research that will improve the developmental outcomes of Canadian infants, children and adolescents.

Peter Szatmari, founding member of CAIRN and a leading expert in the study of autism, will lead the study with Susan Bryson of Dalhousie University and Eric Fombonne of McGill University. They will follow 400 children with ASD over a period of five years with particular focus on the critical transition between initial diagnosis (at 2-4 years of age) and entry into school. Child, family, health service, and community factors relevant to important outcomes for children with ASD will all be examined. The knowledge gained will be used to guide the development of new programs and interventions that will optimize strengths and reduce the burden of suffering for these children.

“ The study is very exciting because it involves research that addresses the real needs of children with autism spectrum disorders and their families,” said Dr. Szatmari. “We hope to present results at future CAIRN conferences from this study as well as other studies being conducted around the country as a result of CAIRN’s efforts to make autism research more relevant and meaningful.”

Dr. Szatmari is Head of Child Psychiatry and Vice-Chair of Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where he holds the Chedoke Health Chair in Child Psychiatry. Dr. Bryson is Professor and Craig Chair in Autism Research at the IWK Health Centre/Dalhousie University, and Dr. Fombonne holds a Canada Research Chair in Child Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal, where he is also Director of the Department of Psychiatry at Montreal Children’s Hospital.

Seven other CAIRN members are involved as co-investigators. They are: Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Assistant Professor in McMaster’s Department of Pediatrics; Tracy Vaillancourt, Assistant Professor in McMaster’s Department of Psychology; Isabel Smith, Assistant Professor and child psychologist at the IWK Health Centre/Dalhousie University; Pat Mirenda, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC); Joanne Volden, Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of Alberta; Wendy Roberts, a developmental pediatrician at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto; and Charlotte Waddell, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC.