With the help of a grant from the Simons Foundation, Kevin Pelphrey, PhD, director of George Washington University’s Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute, Carbonell Family Professor in Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and professor of pharmacology and physiology, is testing the effects of a neuropeptide on children with autism.
The grant will fund a double-blind treatment study giving patients either oxytocin or a placebo, followed by pivotal response training, an evidence-based behavioral intervention. The brain activity of each child will be recorded via functional magnetic resonance imaging before the study begins to determine whether the use of oxytocin helps improve the impact of behavioral therapy.
“Our prediction is that for kids who have certain low levels of social brain activity … when they are given oxytocin, they’ll benefit more from the behavioral therapy,” Pelphrey said. It’s an unusual approach, he explained, because often the context in which the drug is given does not carry much weight. However, in this study, that context — the behavioral therapy — is key.
