Vanderbilt University Medical Center has become an Autism Treatment Network (ATN) site — an elite designation in the field of autism treatment and research. The ATN is a network of 15 centers across North America supported by Autism Speaks and dedicated to improving medical care for children and adolescents with autism by offering comprehensive diagnosis, treatment, care and counseling.
As an ATN site, we provide children and families with access to coordinated care with a team of designated autism specialists that span the Vanderbilt medical community. Areas of emphasis include: gastroenterology, genetics and sleep disorders, but extensive care includes other medical conditions.
"Being part of the national Autism Treatment Network facilitates our naturally collaborative nature in the Medical Center to bring the highest level of care across medical disciplines for children with autism and their families,” said Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D., interim director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center.
ATN institutions benefit from access to standardized clinical protocols and assessments, and a community of autism physicians and behavioral specialists who develop and implement empirically derived treatment practices.
Vanderbilt may submit research proposals that utilize the ATN Research Repository national database, which provides for high quality data collection on well-characterized individuals across a variety of disciplines and for the development of treatment practice parameters.
Principal investigators for the Vanderbilt ATN are Wendy Stone, Ph.D., director of VKC's Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), and Beth Malow, M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Center, and a parent of children on the autism spectrum.
“Not only does the ATN enable us to offer a valuable service to families in our community, but it will be instrumental in developing evidence-based assessment and treatment protocols that will accelerate our understanding of autism and its medical management,” said Stone, professor of pediatrics and psychology.
“The ATN brings together talented individuals from many disciplines — psychology, pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology and others — who share the common goal of creating standards of care for the diagnosis and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders,” said Malow, an associate professor of neurology and VKC investigator. “I am very excited to be part of this mission and to see our Vanderbilt site grow and develop.”
For more information about the Vanderbilt program, please us call toll-free at 1-877-ASD-VUMC , local phone 273-8862, or email us at autismclinic@vanderbilt.edu.
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