Caregiver Speech and Infant Brain Development Study

The Baby Brain Lab is currently conducting an NIH-funded study on caregiver speech and infant brain development. We are interested in how parents and infants communicate, and how this communication supports infant brain and cognitive development. Families will complete home language samples, and infants will participate in lab assessments and MRI brain scans. For more information on this study please go to INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES page.

Center for Children and Families

Dr. Swanson is a faculty affiliate of the UTD Center for Children and Families (CCF). The mission of the Center for Children and Families (CCF) is to advance the healthy development of children in our community and nation. We accomplish our mission through (1) research in human development with real-world impact, (2) educating future professionals, (3) science-driven direct service to children and their families. Dr. Swanson contributes to this mission by conducting research in collaboration with CCF. Research projects include determining if participation in a playful learning program changes caregiver speech for the Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents participating in the program.

The Infant Brain Imaging Study

The Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) is a multi-site longitudinal prospective study of infants with and without a family history of autism that is led by Joseph Piven at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. IBIS has been funded with an NIH Autism Network for Excellence grant since 2007 (PI Piven R01HD055741). The IBIS Network includes five clinical data collection sites (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Washington, Washington University in St. Louis, and University of Minnesota), a data coordinating center at the Montreal Neurological Institute, and investigators at many other universities.

To date, nearly 1,000 infants have participated in the study, including both infants with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder and infants with a typically developing older sibling. About 20% of infants with autistic older siblings go on to have ASD themselves, meaning this project allows for the study of autism in the first years of life before a diagnosis is available. All infants in the study participate in serial MRI brain scans and comprehensive behavioral, cognitive, and clinical assessments.  The IBIS Network is currently conducting IBIS-School Age, a study where all of our previous infant participants will come back for a school-age visit (PI Piven R01HD055741). The network was also recently funded to do another infant study (co-PIs Pruett & Piven, 1R01MH118362). For more information on the IBIS Study, information on participating in studies, and information on projects with infants and children with Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome go to Infant Early Prediction – Infant Brain Imaging Study (ibis-network.com)