Alexandra L. Bey, Ph.D.

Fellow In Child & Adolescent ADHD

Project Details

Project summary

ADHD and autism often occur together and lead to worse outcomes for children with both conditions. This study focuses on two main goals: first, to see how ADHD influences brain activity in autistic children using electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive tool to measure patterns of brain activity; second, to examine how ADHD affects the way autistic children watch movies containing people versus objects. This project build on an existing study collecting EEG and eye tracking in 3-to-6-year-old autistic children by assessing ADHD symptoms from interviewing caregivers and observing children’s behavior. This project uses machine learning to analyze these data to identify differences between children with and without ADHD. The results will help us understand how the conditions differ or overlap. We can use this information to design future treatment studies by identifying unique groups of children who might respond to a new treatment or more objectively measuring response to treatments.