Autism and ADHD affect up to 10% of children, yet the conditions are rarely diagnosed before school age, even though brain and behavioural changes are detectable in infancy. This project tests a new theory: that early differences in how infants process sensory information and regulate their activity disrupt the normal specialisation of brain systems for social engagement and attention, eventually producing the full symptom profile. The researchers will recruit infants with a family history of autism or ADHD and track them at 10, 14, and 24 months using wearable brain imaging, home-based recordings, and behavioural experiments—measuring brain function during real interaction for the first time. They will also analyse existing data from 600 infants followed to age 3–7 to link early traits to longer-term outcomes. If the theory holds, it could shift the window for identifying autism and ADHD from school entry into infancy, enabling earlier support when the brain is most adaptable. This is fundamental developmental neuroscience, not an immediate clinical tool. But similar longitudinal studies of early brain development have reshaped how we understand and intervene in conditions like dyslexia and language delay.
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Neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect up to 10% of children and are associated with other mental health difficulties. Both conditions are associated with reduced educational attainment, occupational success and quality of life, making effective identification and intervention imperative. Although autism and ADHD are not typically recognised until school age or older, underpinning genetic and environment factors are present prenatally and behavioural and brain changes can be detected from early infancy. Thus, the causal mechanisms that underpin behavioural symptoms of autism and ADHD are clearest in early development, before the full symptom profile emerges. Within Phenocades, we will test our new theory that behavioural symptoms result from early-emerging changes in sensory processing and activity regulation that affect a child's behaviour, thus disrupting the experience-dependent specialisation of neural systems underpinning social engagement and executive attention. To do this, we will recruit a new cohort of infants with a family history of autism and/or ADHD who will complete in a multimodal protocol at 10, 14 and 24 months. For the first time, we will measure the dynamics of brain function during exploration and interaction using hyperscanning and wearable neuroimaging; collect home-based data to capture a child's interaction with their natural environment; and use behavioural shiftability experiments to yield causal insights into how early differences in behaviour shape later brain function. To examine longer-term outcomes and examine the genetic architecture of infant neurodevelopmental traits, we will conduct new analysis of existing multimodal longitudinal data from n=600 infants with a family history of autism/ADHD with outcome at 3 to 7 years. Taken together, this work will generate transformative new insights into developmental pathways to neurodevelopmental conditions.
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