Discovering New Possibilities Across the Autism Spectrum
We hear the term “autism spectrum disorder”, but what does it mean? The use of the word “spectrum” describes the wide array and unique combination of characteristics that autistic individuals may display. Helping children with autism live their fullest, happiest, healthiest lives by recognizing the signs as early as possible and developing early interventions and other treatments are the twin goals of Dr. Rebecca Landa’s work and impact.
While the exact cause of autism is still not fully understood, it is believed to result from complex interactions between many different factors, including genetics. Dr. Landa, a speech-language pathologist and board-certified specialist in Child Language, is making significant strides to understand how autism develops. Her nearly four decades of research has changed the field of autism and inspired transformational support and interventions in cognitive, social, communicative and motor development in children with autism.
Dr. Landa’s early work with teens and adults with autism pinpointed for her just how challenging it is to navigate life with autism-related neurodivergence. It also lit a spark that has changed the field of autism. “I began to wonder what life might be like for them if we could detect autism in the first year or two of life,” she explains. “Could we really change the landscape of life for them? How much difference could we make?”
That spark of wonder became the driving force of Dr. Landa’s work. In the 1990s, she was part of the game-changing research group which discovered that autism is highly heritable. Prior to her research closely following infant siblings of autistic children into school age, experts believed that autism could not be diagnosed before the age of three.
With Dr. Landa’s research leadership, we now know that there are consistent indicators that signal likelihood of autism during infancy, and that some siblings who do not meet criteria for autism often have milder but similar behavioral and information processing characteristics. Dr. Landa’s research has also shown that about 20 percent of younger siblings of autistic children also will receive an autism diagnosis. These findings have made it possible to begin intervention before autism fully develops.
Bridging the Gap and Changing the Future for Autistic Children
Kennedy Krieger is the world’s premier healthcare organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and young adults with care and research focused on disorders and injuries of the developing nervous system, from autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability to Batten disease, cerebral palsy, acute flaccid myelitis and more than 200 ultra-rare diseases.
That means we are comfortable in uncharted territory. In fact, it’s where we do our best work. Kennedy Krieger has a long history of undertaking and harnessing groundbreaking scientific research, conducting world-class clinical trials and creating new treatments to change lives. When it comes to understanding children and teens with autism, there is no place else in the world like Kennedy Krieger.
Since her undergraduate days studying speech pathology, Dr. Landa has been driven by insatiable curiosity, compassion and a deep desire to help children. “I am hooked on really understanding the different ways that children learn and how to make the world less complex to navigate for neurodivergent learners,” she reflects. Dr. Landa’s decades of visionary work in autism spectrum disorders, including the creation of Kennedy Krieger’s Center for Autism Services, Science and Innovation (CASSI), and Research and Education for All Children (REACH), play a pivotal role in empowering the lives of countless children and families.