In this talk, Suzy debunks two pervasive myths about autism and overviews cutting edge science to show how adolescence is a vulnerable period of development for individuals with autism and their families, especially in terms of social-emotional development.


Suzy Scherf is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist. She received her PhD from the Univ. of Pittsburgh and did her post-doctoral training in the medical school at Pitt and also at Carnegie Mellon University. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Penn State University. She uses multiple neuroimaging techniques to study brain development in typically developing children and adolescents as well as those with autism. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Alliance for Autism Research, and Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services. Currently, she is working on understanding how children and adolescents perceive and interpret social signals and how pubertal development and emerging functional specificity of the developing brain supports this process.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx