Researchers target Down syndrome progress
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Contact:
Dan Weeks, 604.250.9588 (cell), daniel_weeks@sfu.ca
Dawn McKenna, DSRF, 604.837.7458, dawn@dsrf.org
Marianne Meadahl, pamr, 604.291.4323
Website: www.wdsc2006.com
SFU researchers working to improve the quality of life for those with Down syndrome (DS) will join international experts for the 9th World Down Syndrome Congress in Vancouver, Aug. 22-26. The meetings will focus on progress being made in DS research.
Dan Weeks, chair of SFU’s psychology department and a DS researcher, says SFU researchers are making strides in the bid to better understand brain behaviour and lay groundwork for new developmental approaches to DS.
SFU has a long-standing affiliation with the Burnaby-based Down Syndrome Research Foundation. The acquisition in 2004 of the DSRF’s MEG laboratory, one of three such labs in Canada, is helping advance SFU’s research. SFU will host a meeting of MEG researchers from across the country (Aug. 24) to look at how the technology is advancing research.
Among SFU research underway:
-Kinesiologist Romeo Chua is using the MEG lab to examine differences in the brain relative to speech and movement in DS.
-Psychology assistant professor Grace Iarocci is developing a new early intervention model to improve social competence in infants with DS, called the Learn At Play Program (LAPP).
-Associate professor Arlene Young is focusing on language, literacy and social-emotional development, as well as auditory brain development in children with DS.
-Dan Weeks and colleagues found unique patterns of cerebral development in DS that may be related to motor coordination and language delays. His plan is to establish guidelines for instructional strategies to circumvent or reduce the impact these information processing difficulties have on those with DS.
-Veteran brain behaviour specialist Hal Weinberg has been at the forefront of the development of MEG and EEG for four decades. He continues to investigate functional brain organization in DS with other researchers.
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Congress backgrounder: Key speakers (check www.wcds2006.com for a complete list)
Contact: Dan Weeks, 604.250.9588 (cell)
William Mobley, director of the Neuroscience Institute at Stanford University School of Medicine;
Alan Baddeley, psychology professor from the U.K.’s University of York, who specializes in human memory and neuropsychology;
Jennifer Wishart, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, a research advisor to the Scottish, U.K. and European Down syndrome associations;
Christy Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of KARE, County Kildare Association of Parents & Friends of Handicapped People, Newbridge Co. Kildare, Ireland;
Michael Kendrick, independent international consultant in human services and community work;
Matthew Heath, University of Western Ontario, past recipient of the Early Career Award from the Biannual Scientific Conference of the DSRF.