On 7 September 2016, Ruth O’Hara discussed the field’s current understanding of sleep in autism spectrum disorder.
Her talk was part of the Simons Foundation Autism Research lecture series.
About the Lecture
Understanding sleep physiology in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) not only provides a window to the underlying etiology, it can also help characterize sub-phenotypes and offer a potent treatment approach for improving neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive function in ASD through improved sleep.
Ruth O’Hara discussed the field’s current understanding of sleep in ASD, including: a) describing how sleep physiology in ASD differs from sleep physiology in typically developing children; b) discussing the different potential ASD phenotypes suggested by her work; and c) describing the different sleep architecture, sleep disturbances, and sleep disorders that are more prevalent in ASD than in typically developing children and which can serve as treatment targets that may in turn improve the core symptoms of ASD.
About the Speaker
Ruth O’Hara is associate professor and associate chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University. Her research integrates measures of sleep physiology, the brain and behavior across the lifespan. Over the years she has obtained substantial National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to support her work. O’Hara received a SFARI grant to examine sleep physiology and neurodevelopmental processes in autism spectrum disorder. She was a member of the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) sleep-wake disorders work group.
