Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are two major neurodevelopmental disorders that affect between 6 to 8 percent of children. These disorders have very different symptoms, but children with attention problems are frequently found to have motor and learning issues. Often, parents and siblings of children affected by ADHD and DCD also display learning difficulties. How are these disorders related? Why do they run in families? What happens in the developing brain to cause ADHD, DCD, or both? Our project aims to help answer these questions by comparing children with ADHD and DCD to their siblings, and to other children from families unaffected by learning disabilities. During development, brain cells form connections either locally, or over long distances between widely separated brain regions. These connections, like telephone networks, allow brain cells to communicate. The normal process of brain cell communication is responsible for how we learn new skills, what we remember, and controls how we write, play sports, and tie our shoes. Differences in how these connections are formed create disruptions in brain function. This is what might be happening in brains of children affected by ADHD and DCD. Brain network changes could be caused by small variations in the genes that control brain development, which may be why we see various learning disabilities in members of the same family. Using specialized imaging equipment, we can examine the underlying brain structures and identify some of the changes that lead to attention and motor problems. Using DNA analysis, we can then identify any genetic variations that families affected by learning disabilities have in common. Understanding the process of brain development and what differences are present in disorders like ADHD, will help to design interventions that can improve or even prevent susceptible children from developing a learning disability.