CARD Newsletter April 2015

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3901 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21211

Help Us Celebrate 20 Years

card.kennedykrieger.org

April/May 2015 • VOL. 8, ISSUE 1

This year marks 20 years since the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) was founded! In honor of our 20th birthday, we are asking for gifts of $20. To donate to our ―20 4 20‖ campaign, you can: 

Visit kennedykrieger.org/CARD20 and click on the Donate Now button.

Send a check payable to ―Kennedy Krieger Foundation—CARD‖ to Kennedy Krieger Institute, 707 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, Attn: Office of Philanthropy

With your help, we hope to raise $200,000 so that we can continue advancing the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) field!

The Importance of Gaze Expression By Joshua Haworth, PhD The eyes are much more than a window to the soul. Arguably, the eyes (and related brain networks) are the fundamental basis for our social being. The health of the brain is critical for the development of our social thinking ability. How much can be said with a simple glance to the ground when one is asked, ―Who took the cookies from the counter?‖ or when the location of a hide-n-seeker is accidently revealed by a quick glance from an accomplice who has just been caught? The former is an example of gaze use for emotional expression and the latter is an example of using gaze to reference something or someone. Each of these uses can be expressive (telling another about one’s mood or where I would like them to look) or receptive (seeing and understanding another’s mood or where they would like Inside this issue me to look). Interestingly, the social understandings and expressions that occur through the eyes are generally learned without being taught . For those of you who are familiar with the social gaze behavior of individuals with ASD, you know that it can be difficult “20 4 20” Partnership 4 to help foster these skills of sending and understanding signals sent by the eyes. April Events

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Research Findings

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Expressive gaze offers a feeling of connectedness to others by letting them in on feelings and directed interests. Receptive gaze is important to fully appreciate the emotional state of another, or to properly associate spoken words and simultaneous gaze being used to refer to some thing or person. Our previous work has shown that very young children with ASD tend to use expressive gaze less often than children without ASD. Because they differ in expressive social gaze behavior, children with ASD can be mistakenly labeled as socially disinterested or aloof as they grow older. Continued on page 2 1


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