ADHD in Girls and Women: Developmental Perspectives, Key Impairments, and Overcoming Stigma (2023)

Introduction

The speaker introduces the topic of ADHD in girls and women, provides some disclosures, and outlines what will be covered in the lecture.

• The speaker introduces the topic of ADHD in girls and women.

• Disclosures are provided.

• An overview is given of what will be covered in the lecture.

Top 10 Reasons Why Girls and Women with ADHD Have Been Overlooked

The speaker discusses historical reasons why girls and women with ADHD have been overlooked.

Letterman's Top 10 List

• The speaker presents a top 10 list of reasons why girls and women with ADHD have been overlooked.

• Number 10: It's not just about girls and women with ADHD.

• Number 9: It's a self-fulfilling prophecy that perpetuates biases against diagnosing girls with ADHD.

• Number 8: Comorbidity has led to misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls.

• Number 7: Girls were thought to have "ADD" instead of "ADHD".

• Number 6: Gender stereotypes have influenced diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.

• Number 5: Lack of awareness among healthcare professionals about how ADHD presents differently in girls compared to boys.

• Number 4: Diagnostic criteria for ADHD were based on studies conducted primarily on boys.

• Number 3: Girls may present with different symptoms than boys, making it harder to diagnose them accurately.

• Number 2: There is a lack of research on how hormones affect symptoms of ADHD in females throughout their lifespan.

• Number 1: Stigma surrounding mental health conditions like ADHD affects both males and females but may be more pronounced in females.

Lack of Representation of Females in Basic Animal Physiology Research

The speaker discusses the lack of representation of females in basic animal physiology research and how this has contributed to a lack of understanding about ADHD in girls and women.

• A review by a colleague at Cal found that only 6% of studies on animal physiology had female subjects.

• Most studies did not analyze for interactions between sex and variables of interest.

• Recent commissions have admitted that the assumption underlying the use of male animals as exemplars was flawed, as males also have cycles.

• Despite efforts to broaden representation, recent meta-analyses show that we are still not far enough, especially with girls and women.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The speaker discusses how biases against diagnosing girls with ADHD have perpetuated a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• Biases against diagnosing girls with ADHD have perpetuated a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• Recent reviews show that the ratio of boys to girls diagnosed with ASD is about 3:1, while for ADHD it's about 2.3 - 5:1 across international samples.

• Male brains develop slower than female brains, making them more susceptible to conditions like ADHD that affect social or self-regulatory behavior. However, this does not explain the biases seen in clinical samples.

Comorbidity

The speaker discusses comorbidity and how it has led to misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls.

• Comorbidity has led to misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls.

• Girls with ADHD are more likely to have comorbid conditions like anxiety, depression, and learning disabilities than boys with ADHD.

• Healthcare professionals may attribute symptoms of ADHD to these other conditions instead of recognizing them as part of the broader picture of ADHD in girls.

Developmental Pathways

The speaker discusses developmental pathways and how they can help us understand the heterotypic continuity of behavior in girls with ADHD.

• Developmental pathways can help us understand the heterotypic continuity of behavior in girls with ADHD.

• Heterotypic continuity refers to how one type of behavior may predict another type of behavior at a later time point, even if it looks different on the surface.

• Girls with ADHD may present with different symptoms at different stages of development, but there is often an underlying vulnerability that persists over time.

Stigma

Clarifying ADHD Diagnosis

In this section, the speaker discusses how the hyperkinesis index was formed and how it is biased towards male diagnosis. The speaker also talks about how teachers have implicit biases when assessing ADHD in students.

Formation of Hyperkinesis Index

• The hyperkinesis index was formed by choosing the 10 highest loading items on an overall hyperactivity attention problem scale.

• The hyperkinesis index has two items pertinent to inattention and other items related to restlessness, impulsivity, and being driven by a motor.

• Teachers have implicit biases that boys are both more hyperactive and impulsive and more inattentive.

Bias Towards Male Diagnosis

• The rating scale used in all government-funded research ignored items related to inattention, which resulted in a bias towards male diagnosis.

• DSM-4 stated that symptoms had to be impairing since before first grade for a diagnosis of ADHD, which further contributed to the low identification of girls with ADHD.

Late Discovery of ADHD Symptoms

In this section, the speaker talks about how many girls with underlying symptoms of ADHD go unnoticed until later in life due to societal expectations and coping mechanisms.

Coping Mechanisms

• Girls often compensate for their struggles with parental support or teacher's assistance.

• Struggles are often coped with but not addressed directly, resulting in late discovery of underlying symptoms.

Challenges Faced Later In Life

• The challenges of high school and adult life often lead to the discovery of ADHD symptoms in women.

• People do not wake up one day with ADHD, but they may have struggled and coped with underlying symptoms for years before seeking help.

The transcript is relatively short, so there are only two sections.

What Women Go Through

In this section, the speaker discusses the unique challenges that women face due to biological and psychosocial changes.

Challenges Faced by Women

• Puberty, childbirth, perimenopause, and menopause are some of the biological changes that women go through.

• Women with ADHD face executive problems while dealing with these changes.

• There is a debate on whether girls should be diagnosed based on girl norms or mixed gender norms.

• It is important to consider if girls diagnosed on the basis of such norms are as impaired as boys.

Developmental Psychopathology

In this section, the speaker talks about developmental psychopathology and how it can help in understanding psychological and biological processes.

Principles of Developmental Psychopathology

• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts when studying psychological and biological processes.

• Longitudinal studies are necessary to understand many processes.

• Context and culture play an essential role in exacerbating or diminishing underlying vulnerabilities.

Gender Paradox

In this section, the speaker discusses the gender paradox and how it relates to conditions like ASDS and ADHD.

Gender Paradox

• One-and-a-half to two-year-old boys exhibit more aggressive behavior than girls.

• Girls with ASDS have a lower prevalence of the condition but may exhibit more severe manifestations due to genetic load or difficult pre and perinatal experiences.

Gender Differences in ADHD Diagnosis

In this section, the speaker discusses gender differences in ADHD diagnosis and prevalence rates.

Boys vs Girls

• Boys are more likely to exhibit hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms, while girls are more likely to show exclusively inattentive symptoms.

• The prevalence of ADHD is about 5-7% worldwide for children aged 5-18, with a similar ratio of boys to girls (2.2-2.5 to 1).

• The United States and Israel have double the rates of diagnosis compared to other countries, suggesting cultural or school-related factors may play a role.

Girls with ADHD

• Girls with ADHD tend to have more language and IQ deficits than boys. However, there is no consensus on the underlying theoretical models that explain these differences.

• A study by Mass General found that girls with ADHD had higher rates of life impairment, neuropsychological deficits, conduct problems, anti-social behavior, substance use problems, anxiety and depression compared to neurotypical girls. They also had similar rates as boys with ADHD who were elevated compared to male neurotypical samples.

• Girls with ADHD showed Oppositional Defiant or conduct disorder later in development (teen years), which is consistent with general trends among female samples even without an ADHD diagnosis.

Longitudinal Study on Developmental Trajectories of ADHD in Girls

In this section, the speaker discusses a longitudinal study on developmental trajectories of ADHD in girls.

Mass General Study

• The Mass General study followed 140 boys with ADHD, 140 neurotypical match comparisons, 140 girls with ADHD and 130 neurotypical girl comparisons for 10 years.

• Girls with ADHD had much higher rates of life impairment, neuropsychological deficits, conduct problems, anti-social behavior, substance use problems, anxiety and depression compared to neurotypical girls. They also had similar rates as boys with ADHD who were elevated compared to male neurotypical samples.

Berkeley Longitudinal Study

• The speaker discusses a longitudinal study on developmental trajectories of ADHD in girls at UC Berkeley that is ongoing.

Neuropsychological Performance and Parent-Child Interactions for Girls with ADHD

The speaker discusses the process of obtaining funding for a study on girls with ADHD, recruiting participants, and conducting assessments.

Obtaining Funding

• The speaker revised a grant proposal to study neuropsychological performance and parent-child interactions in girls with ADHD.

• The grant received a top percentile rank of 0.01% at NIMH.

Recruiting Participants

• The research team screened over 1000 girls to participate in the study.

• They selected 99 girls with classically defined ADHD, matched with a neurotypical sample on ethnicity, neighborhood, and age.

Conducting Assessments

• The research team put the participants through a multi-gated assessment process.

• They aimed to study the participants for the rest of their lives, which set an expectation among families.

• Over 25 years later, they have had retention rates between 92% and 96%.

Baseline Study Results on Girls with ADHD

The speaker discusses the results of their first paper on girls with ADHD published in July 2002.

Study Results

• The research team found that girls with ADHD had impairments in many domains compared to neurotypical peers.

• Their publication doubled the world's literature on girls with ADHD in one day.

Follow-Up Studies on Girls with ADHD

The speaker discusses follow-up studies conducted after their initial publication.

Measuring Change

• To measure change over time, it is important not to change measures used in previous studies.

• Developmentally sensitive measures are necessary when studying children.

Retention Rates

• Retention rates have remained high over the years, with 25-year follow-ups conducted via Zoom during the pandemic.

Self-Harm and Suicide in Emerging Adulthood

In this section, the speaker discusses self-harm and suicide in emerging adulthood. They explain that self-harm can be divided into two subcategories: suicidal behavior and non-suicidal self-injurious behavior. The speaker also highlights the importance of addressing these issues early on, as they can have long-lasting effects.

Self-Harm Subcategories

• Self-harm can be divided into two subcategories: suicidal behavior and non-suicidal self-injurious behavior.

• Suicidal behavior involves an intent to end one's life, while non-suicidal self-injurious behavior is used to deal with psychological pain.

• Non-suicidal self-injurious behavior is often mistaken for borderline personality disorder but is not as simple as that.

Prevalence of Self-Harm

• A history of non-suicidal self-injurious behavior in one's teens is a predictor of suicide attempts in one's twenties.

• The prevalence of mental health issues among youth is increasing, including ADHD which has been found to be associated with self-harm behaviors.

Preventive Interventions

• Preventive interventions should target preteen girls before they show signs of self-harm behaviors.

• Longitudinal research teams should look for mediational processes that might explain the link between baseline predictors and the outcome of interest.

Adolescent Suicide Attempts

The speaker discusses the predictors of suicide attempts in adolescents, specifically focusing on internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Predictors of NSSI and Attempted Suicide

• Girls are the only significant adolescent media of attempted suicide.

• Internalizing symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal predict NSSI.

• Externalizing symptoms such as response disinhibition preferentially predict NSSI.

• Multi-informant reports preferentially predict attempted suicide where the attempt was to die.

Peer Relationships and Social Preference

• Commission errors on the Congress continuous performance test predict NSSI severity.

• Self-perceptions of being victimized and bullied are a strong mediator of NSSI.

• Low social preference reported by a third party (teacher) is a significant mediator for attempted suicide.

Trauma and ADHD

The speaker discusses how early maltreatment affects girls with ADHD's risk for attempting suicide.

Physical Abuse or Sexual Abuse or Neglect

• Girls with ADHD were more likely to have received early maltreatment.

• If you were a girl with early ADHD who had received physical abuse or sexual abuse or neglect, your odds of attempting your life increase significantly.

• If you're the same level of ADHD but without that maltreatment it was one in seven fourteen percent.

Heritability of Bipolar Disorder vs. ADHD

• If you have bipolar disorder and you've been physically or sexually abused as a kid, your suicide risk which is already astronomical for bipolar disorder anyway goes up by 50 percent.

• The heritability of ADHD is 0.78 to 0.82.

• The risk for dysregulated behaviors pertinent to ADHD is largely genetic but if you've also experienced maltreatment now your risk of attempted suicide more than doubles.

• Girls with ADHD by Wave 3 reported three times more intimate partner violence.

ADHD and Trauma in Girls

In this section, the speaker discusses how risk factors for ADHD and trauma can overlap in young girls. The speaker also talks about the impact of ADHD on academic and executive functioning outcomes.

Risk Factors for ADHD and Trauma

• Risk factors for having ADHD may be the same as those for being traumatized.

• Impulsive mothers who drink alcohol are examples of risk factors that can lead to both ADHD and trauma in children.

Impact of ADHD on Academic Outcomes

• Girls with ADHD have a significantly higher rate of unplanned pregnancies compared to neurotypical girls.

• There were no differences in high school graduation rates between girls with ADHD and neurotypical girls. However, girls with ADHD took longer to complete their education due to difficulties with executive functioning.

• By the fourth wave, scores of girls with ADHD in math achievement tests were in the 18th percentile. This is a stereotyped area where girls are not expected to do well, even though meta-analyses show that they perform just as well as boys if they take math classes.

Impact of Executive Functioning on Outcomes

• Working memory scores during childhood were potent predictors of low academic skills and poor occupational skills at the third wave. This was especially true for girls with ADHD.

• Low working memory scores predicted poor reading skills later on, while low planning and overall executive functioning scores predicted school suspensions.

• Executive dysfunction is particularly pertinent for girls with ADHD, who may not be as externalizing as boys. Girls with ADHD were found to be way behind in executive functions when they were young, and their academic problems in adolescence and early adulthood are mediators of negative life outcomes.

Mediators of Peer Violence

• The extraordinarily high rate of peer violence inflicted against girls with ADHD during adolescence is partially mediated by their middle school and early high school grades and reading and math scores.

Combination of Therapies for ADHD

In this section, the speaker discusses the combination of therapies that can be used to treat ADHD in adolescents and adults.

Key Points

• The combination of well-delivered medicine, behavioral family therapy, school consultation, and CBT anger management organizational skills brings patients closer to the normal range than either modality alone.

Predictors of NSSI and Suicide Attempts in Girls with ADHD

In this section, the speaker discusses predictors of NSSI and suicide attempts in girls with ADHD.

Key Points

• Severity of ADHD symptoms is a predictor of NSSI and suicide attempts.

• Negative interchanges with fathers are a main predictor of NSSI in girls with ADHD.

• Poor executive function deficits, low self-esteem, and adverse childhood experiences are potent predictors of later internalizing symptoms such as suicidality and self-harm.

• Girls with ADHD have lower rates of substance abuse except for tobacco and delinquency than typical boy samples but higher rates of self-harm.

Mental Health Problems in Adolescent Girls

In this section, the speaker discusses mental health problems in adolescent girls.

Key Points

• By puberty and middle school, girls shoot ahead of boys in terms of anxiety depression self-harm binge eating and other symptoms like that.

• Rates of adolescent young adult girl's mental health problems are as bad as the headlines you're reading.

Treatment for ADHD in Girls and Women

In this section, the speaker discusses treatment options for girls and women with ADHD.

Key Points

• There isn't much systematic research on boys versus girls, males versus females, men versus women difference responsive treatment because there hasn't been much research on girls and women with ADHD.

• Girls and women seem to have more adverse reactions to stimulants than boys and men but tend to respond better preferentially to non-stimulus treatments such as alpha twos, stratteras, and antihypertensives.

Evidence-Based Treatments and Stigma

In this section, the speaker discusses evidence-based treatments for ADHD in females and the stigma associated with mental illness.

Stigma Related to ADHD

• Stigma is defined as burn marks or brands placed on individuals by a more powerful group that thinks the group maligned is bad in some ways.

• Physical stigma was used in Ancient Greece to identify people who were different from others. Today, most stigma is inferred because we know about you and your kind or your group or those with another conditional condition like yours.

• Many groups receive stigma in current data from U.S population surveys which groups receive more stigma than other groups do you have a mental illness or neurodevelopmental disorder do you abuse drugs and or are you homeless that's the bottom three.

Evidence-Based Treatments

• Evidence-based treatments may help girls out of this heterotypically continuous rut.

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination

In this section, the speaker discusses prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination related to mental illness.

Prejudice and Stereotypes

• Humans have stereotypes of "us versus them." Even progressive individuals can be prejudicial towards certain groups.

• We all have stereotypes but being overly social can lead to exploitation.

Discrimination

• Discrimination has led to total exclusion from society and genocide for people with Autism, intellectual disability, ADHD, bipolar disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia over the decades.

Stigma Related to Mental Illness

In this section, the speaker discusses stigma related to mental illness.

Stigma Related to Mental Illness

• The speaker wrote a book on the topic of stigma related to mental illness in 2007.

• Mental illness has been stigmatized for centuries. Bosch's painting "The Extraction of the Stone of Madness" depicts how people in Holland thought that a stone in your head caused mental illness.

• Removing the label does not necessarily emancipate the person and take away the stigma or is the label part of the disease that can be conquered and cured.

Self-Stigma and Courtesy Stigma

In this section, the speaker discusses self-stigma and courtesy stigma in mental health.

Self-Stigma

• Stereotypes can lead to internalized stigma, which keeps people away from treatment or causes them to drop out earlier.

• Internalized stigma is a big goal.

Courtesy Stigma

• Goffman wrote about courtesy stigma in his book "Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity" (1963).

• Courtesy stigma refers to stigmatizing anyone associated with a person who has been stigmatized by society. This includes family members.

• Clinical psychologists who work with patients who have mental illnesses also receive courtesy stigma.

• Otto Wahl conducted a national survey of NAMI adults with bipolar disorder, severe depression, or schizophrenia. The study found that courtesy stigma was one of the top causes of stigma reported by these patients.

Structural Stigma and Neurodiversity

In this section, the speaker discusses structural stigma and neurodiversity in mental health.

Structural Stigma

• Structural stigma refers to policies that devalue certain groups of people and do not give them protections. This can lead to poor mental health outcomes and reduced effectiveness of evidence-based treatments.

Neurodiversity

• The speaker's lab group frequently discusses neurodiversity and what it means for ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, etc.

• Views on neurodiversity are getting challenged as we move away from the idea that you either have a disorder or you don't.

• Mark Hatzenbuehler is an expert on the mental health problems of sexual minority youth and how policies in different states can influence mental health outcomes.

Another Kind of Madness

In this section, the speaker discusses her personal experience with courtesy stigma and structural stigma in relation to her father's bipolar disorder.

• The speaker's father had his first bipolar episode misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for 45 years.

• The family was not allowed to discuss the topic due to toxic doctor's orders.

Becoming a Psychologist

In this section, the speaker talks about how he became a psychologist and the growth of knowledge in America about mental illness.

Childhood and Adolescence

• The speaker talks about his childhood and adolescence.

• He mentions that his father spoke up, which led him to change his major to psychology at college.

Growth of Knowledge About Mental Illness

• The speaker notes that knowledge in America about mental illness has grown precipitously over the last 50-70 years.

• However, attitudes towards mental illness have not budged, with three times more people now associating mental illness with aggression and violence than in 1955.

Change in Attitudes

• Bernice Pescosolido published a study showing that American adults are much more accepting and willing to be close with someone with major depression.

• However, stigma towards schizophrenia and substance abuse had gone up by a d of 0.2.

Stigma Against ADHD

In this section, the speaker discusses why there is stigma against ADHD and how it affects girls and women.

Inconsistent Performance

• People with ADHD are consistently inconsistent across neuropsych cognitive control tests.

• This may have to do with the default mode Network.

Attribution of Stigma

• The attribution for poor performance is often attributed to laziness or lack of motivation rather than a condition that one cannot control.

Stigma Against Girls and Women

• Girls and women with ADHD may receive double or triple stigma due to their struggles with social adaptation as well as high/low grades at the same time.

Diagnosis of ADHD

In this section, the speaker discusses problems associated with diagnosing ADHD.

Quick Diagnoses

• The average length of time it takes for a kid with ADHD to get diagnosed today in the United States is 12 minutes in a pediatrician's office.

• There are no ready scales, developmental interviews, or trauma histories taken into account.

Underdiagnosis and Overdiagnosis

• Quick diagnoses can under diagnose if a kid is not acting up in the waiting room but over diagnose because so many other things look like and mimic ADHD.

Evidence-Based Assessments

• Evidence-based assessments should focus on hyper verbalness rather than just hyperactivity.

• Teachers may be reporting inattentive symptoms in girls.

Reinforcing Strengths

In this section, the speaker discusses how to set up a reward program for children with ADHD and how to find their strengths.

Finding Strengths

• Find strengths in addition to consistent contingencies.

• Girls with ADHD have social genetic factors that can mask or compensate some of the deficits at younger ages.

• Girls who primarily have executive dysfunction primarily inattentive may be shy and anxious rather than oppositional and ornery who really want to please and do well but aren't quite sure how.

Reinforcing Strengths

• Reinforce strengths by finding non-traditional things they do in middle school or high school and careers.

• Parents need to radically accept their daughter's temperament.

• Kids with ADHD need extrinsic reward systems much more than neurotypical kids.

Self-Esteem & Sex Education

In this section, the speaker talks about self-esteem, sex education, and advocacy for girls with ADHD.

Self-Esteem

• Falsely boosting someone's self-esteem without a real skill base is counterproductive.

• Parents need to radically accept their daughter's temperament.

Sex Education & Advocacy

• Sex education and advocacy are hardly ever discussed in the ADHD literature.

Acceptance & Commitment

In this section, the speaker emphasizes acceptance and commitment as key components of treatment for children with ADHD.

Acceptance & Commitment

• Parents need to radically accept their daughter's temperament.

• Kids with ADHD may need medications and accommodations in school.

• It takes acceptance and commitment to change, and families need good psychoeducation about what ADHD is.

Personal Experience with ADHD Diagnosis

A woman shares her personal experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and how it has impacted her life. She also discusses the challenges faced by girls and women with ADHD, particularly in school.

Emotional Response to Diagnosis

• The speaker was diagnosed with ADHD last year at the age of 42.

• She experienced relief, anger, and mourning after receiving the diagnosis.

• The diagnosis explained a lot about her struggles in school.

• She feels emotional talking about her experience.

Acceptance and Support

• The speaker's husband, family members, and friends are accepting of her.

• As a school social worker, she is able to offer support to students with ADHD.

• Girls with ADHD often have low self-esteem due to lack of understanding from parents and teachers.

Seeking Resources for Support

• The speaker asks for book recommendations or other resources to better support her students.

• One recommendation is "Straight Talk About Girls With ADHD" by Hinshaw (2002).

• There are many resources available online but it's important to be cautious about their accuracy.

Delayed Diagnosis Due to Anxiety

The speaker discusses what kept her diagnosis from emerging for so long.

Perfectionism and Anxiety

• Anxiety was a major factor that delayed the speaker's diagnosis.

• Her perfectionism also played a role in masking her symptoms.

Understanding ADHD and Anxiety

In this section, the speaker talks about how anxiety can mask ADHD symptoms and how treating anxiety can make ADHD symptoms worse.

Anxiety Treatment and ADHD Symptoms

• Treating anxiety made ADHD symptoms worse because the anxiety was masking the symptoms.

• The MIND Institute website has a video on girls with ADHD that is evidence-based.

• The MIND Institute also has an ADHD resources site with lots of resources.

Emotional Dysregulation and Irritability in Girls with ADHD

In this section, the speaker discusses emotional dysregulation and irritability in girls with ADHD.

Irritability as a Construct

• Irritability is a construct that people are studying for its heritability and social/contextual influences.

• It appears in various disorders such as ADHD, autism spectrum, anxiety, depression, conduct disorder.

• Bipolar disorder does exist in some kids but not as much as people had thought.

• Ellen Liebenloft started to systematically look at irritability in preschoolers, grade schoolers, and teens looking at short triggers.

Relationship between Irritability and Stigma

• Higher rates of irritability in girls lead to greater rates of impulsivity later.

• Irritability can affect those around you leading to negative feedback loops potentially.

Tourette's, Tics, and ADHD

In this section, the speaker talks about the relationship between Tourette's, tics, and ADHD. They explain that about a third of children with ADHD also have tics and Tourette's. The speaker notes that ticks are more prevalent in boys than girls.

Relationship between ADHD and Tics

• About a third of children with ADHD also have tics and Tourette's.

• Children with ADHD who are irritable or tantrum-prone may develop ticks over time.

• Ticks can cause emotional dysregulation, OCD symptoms, social deficits, anxiety, etc.

• Primary care providers need to be trained to recognize these symptoms in children with ADHD.

Understanding Tics

• Developmental regulation occurs for most boys who experience ticks.

• Chronic vocal and motor ticks are more prevalent in boys than girls.

• Girls' symptoms may be confounded with OCD behaviors or irritability.

UC Davis MIND Institute

In this section, the speaker introduces the UC Davis MIND Institute. They explain that the institute was founded in 1998 to reduce and prevent disabilities associated with autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. The speaker notes that researchers at the institute conduct groundbreaking research on autism, fragile X syndrome, chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, ADHD, and other conditions associated with disability.

About UC Davis MIND Institute

• The UC Davis MIND Institute was founded in 1998 to reduce and prevent disabilities associated with autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

• Clinicians and researchers at the institute conduct groundbreaking research on autism, fragile X syndrome, chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, ADHD, and other conditions associated with disability.

• The institute offers current studies and upcoming events on their website and social media platforms.

How to Help

• Visit the UC Davis MIND Institute's website or social media platforms to find out more about current studies, upcoming events, and how you can help make a difference.