Autism is a severe developmental disorder that is associated with volumetric increases of certain brain areas. Such increases in volume have been shown in young children with autism, but results in adults are more controversial. Some studies report that brain volume enlargement in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is only present during very early childhood (2 to 4 years) but that brain volumes revert to normal or even reduced volume with increasing age (5 to 16 years) (Courchesne et al., 2001; Aylward et al., 2002). However, other studies have shown increases in brain volumes at older ages (13 to 29 years and 15 to 25 years) (Palmen et al., 2004, Piven et al., 1995).
In the present study we employ a longitudinal design to investigate whether brain enlargements persist during adolescence in individuals with ASD.

In addition we will compare brain development in these children with children who are at increased risk for psychosis.

Preliminary results show a significant difference in rate of ventricular growth (volume change per year) in children with ASD compared to controls (p ≤ .05). This difference suggests that progressive changes are ongoing in children with ASD during adolescence. Follow-up investigations will include measuring the volume of structures surrounding the ventricles (the basal ganglia and medial temporal lobe structures) and the sample will increase to a total of 50 children with ASD and 50 healthy controls.

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