M.I.N.D. Institute

The UC DavisM.I.N.D. Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) research and treatment center affiliated with the University of California, Davis, with facilities located on the UC Davis Medical Centercampus in Sacramento, California. The institute is a consortium of scientists, educators, physicians and parents who have joined together to unravel the mysteries of autism spectrumdisorders, fragile X syndrome, and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

The M.I.N.D. Institute brings together experts in fields as diverse as molecular geneticsand clinical pediatrics, using a multidisciplinaryapproach to treating and finding cures for neurodevelopmental disorders.

Parents of autisticchildren led the drive to raise funds for the cause, anticipating the institute could become the premiere autismresearch institute in the world. The largest contribution came from the California State Legislature, which provided $34 million to the institute for autism research. The efforts enabled construction of the institute's state-of-the-art facility at the U.C. Davis Medical Center campus in Sacramento.

After the major funding from the State, Rick Rollens, the former Secretary of the California State Senate and one of the leaders in the effort to create the institute, said the National Institutes of Health(NIH) has only funded "the traditional, genetic-oriented research into autism. The institute, having been established by parents concerned about the staggering implications of a possible autism epidemic, is demanding that scientists take research to the next level by looking at possible causes from different perspectives.

Among the parents behind the institute are Chuck and Sarah Gardner, parents of Chas, their autistic son. Chuck is a Sacramento area building contractor and co-founder of the institute along with his wife, Sarah, a high-profile television anchorwoman in Sacramento.

David G. Amaral, PhD, is the research director of the M.I.N.D. Institute and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Neuroscience, a neuroscientistwho studies the organization of memorysystems in the brain. Sally Rogers, Ph.D. is a specialist in developmental psychologyand professor of psychiatryand behaviorscience for the institute.

In October, 2002, the institute released a study appearing to confirm that the prevalence of autism has risen steeply. The study was led by Dr. Robert Byrd, whose team gathered information on 684 children with developmental disabilities from California's Department of Developmental Services regional centers. Byrd's team's reported autism is on the rise in California, and that the unprecedented increase is real and cannot be explained away by artificial factors such as misclassification and diagnostic criteriachanges, nor by migration of children into California.

See also

• List of autism-related topics
• Neurodiversity
• Sensory integration dysfunction

External links

• UCDavis.edu- 'Helping to Grow Healthy Minds', UCDavis M.I.N.D. Institute homepage
• AACAP.org- 'The M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California, Davis', Thomas F. Anders, MD, DevelopMentor, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry(2003)
• Alternative-Doctor.com- 'The Cure Autism Conspiracy of Parents and the M.I.N.D. Institute' (interview with Andrew Wakefieldand Rick Rollens), Lenny Schafer, Scafer Autism Report
• AutisticSociety.org- 'Study: Brain is atypical in autistic boys', Dorsey Griffith (August 21, 2004)
• NeuroDiversity.com- 'The "Autism Epidemic" & Real Epidemics: An exchange of correspondence with the U.C. Davis M.I.N.D. Institute' (March 28, 2005)
• NPR.org- 'A New Approach to Autism: MIND Institute Sees Parents as Essential to a Cure', Jon Hamilton, All Things Considered, National Public Radio(January 20, 2003)
• WB58TV.com- 'About Sarah Gardner' (April 7, 2005)
• Yahoo.com- 'The Schafer Autism Report Archive'

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