grant was not approved.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder will have abnormal DESA® results. Our objective is to use neuroelectrical measures to determine the degree of processing abnormalities in individuals with Autism. The study will survey processing patterns and will locate and evaluate the degree(s) of abnormalities for further study. The abnormal results of comprehensive neuroelectrical evaluations of individuals with Autism when compared to the normative database will provide objective, verifiable, neurophysiological information with which to form novel approaches to the disorder.

The research method will be: gathering, analyzing and utilizing data.

We will observe research subjects through neuroelectrical instrumentation, then, compare results to retrospective information collected from research subjects and a normative database.

A qualified neurologist thoroughly familiar with electrophysiology will interpret the data, and analyze it to explore the abnormalities.

The hypothesis will be evaluated.

We will, then, utilize the results to find data-based forms of treatment for those with the disorder.

Inclusion Criteria:

• The study will include children between the ages of five and eighteen, adults from the age of nineteen to twenty-five, and those with the diagnosis of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Exclusion Criteria:

• those with mental retardation
• those with any other neurological disorder
• those that cannot sit in a chair for one hundred and fifty minutes
• those that have been previously diagnosed with a seizure disorder
• those who are blind and/or deaf
• those who are not ambulatory
• those who cannot understand English
• those that are not a resident of Los Angeles County

The study population includes individuals with Autism without exclusion on the basis of sex, gender, race or ethnicity. There will be 100 research subjects, with a ratio of four males to one female, and those being approximately sixty-five children and thirty-five adults.