Neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism affect up to 10% of people across the EU, as well as their families, friends, and caregivers. Estimated costs are around €30 billion each year with profound effects on wellbeing, education, employment and social inclusion. Despite the challenges that autistic people face, today there are no approved medical treatments for core characteristics of autism, and there are still too few tailored treatments for associated physical and mental health conditions.

At AIMS-2-TRIALS, supported by EFPIA funding, we are helping advance a better understanding of autism and the support autistic people may need throughout life. By bringing together different areas of research and care, we are working towards more personalised approaches starting in childhood.

Family studies of early autism

Understanding the earliest signs of autism is key to providing targeted early support. Through the Eurosibs network, we study infants with a family history of autism across Europe. Infants with a sibling or parent who is autistic have up to 20 times the chance of developing autism themselves. By working with families from birth, we can identify changes in brain processing that can be detected before behavioral symptoms are noticed in clinical services. We use measures of brain activity, eye tracking and behavior to map how children learn, pay attention and communicate with other people. We have identified early brain differences that predict later diagnosis, which could help us understand how to better support families with children with emerging autism. In our preschool (PIP) and school age (LEAP) studies, we examine the earliest indicators of later mental health challenges and identify ways to support quality of life for all children.  

Global inclusion: The PASS Study

Disparities are often geographical. Children in low-resource settings are frequently excluded from global research due to logistical and implementation constraints.

Our South Africa Safe Passage Study (PASS) is specifically designed to bridge this gap. We are working with a cohort of families enrolled in pregnancy, and following them into childhood to look at brain and cognitive differences in children with autistic traits. By enabling research in these settings, we ensure that the advancements we make are not just for the few, but are representative of the global community of children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Wearable technology

Traditional research often requires families to spend hours in clinical labs – an environment that can be stressful for children and may not reflect their true daily experiences.

We are increasing research participation by deploying wearable home devices. This shift increases accessibility by minimizing the burden on families, with the added benefit of providing more naturalistic data than can be collected in lab settings.

On this World Children’s Day, our goal remains clear: to move beyond "one-size-fits-all" approaches and create a future where every child, regardless of their neurotype or geography, has the opportunity to thrive.