A new TMS study, this one involving teenagers

Over the past few years many of you have asked about the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) research that I’ve been involved with.  Some of you have even asked about enrolling teenagers in behavioral experiments involving TMS.  Today, researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital are conducting a TMS study that may provide short-term improvement in visuomotor processing, social skills, and pragmatic language skills

They are seeking male volunteers, 8-15 years of age, with good verbal skills, an autism spectrum diagnosis and IQ over 80. 

Participation in the study involves 4 visits. Visit 1 will be a screening visit. Visits 2, 3, and 4 will have subjects doing behavioral tasks in conjunction with measures of brain activity by TMS, which is a noninvasive method that measures and influences brain activity. In TMS, a strong magnet is pulsed next to the patient's head, and small electrical currents are induced in the patient's brain. TMS is painless and well-tolerated, even by young children.

There will be no cost to participate in the research and participants will be compensated with a small token of appreciation.   If the researchers or participants see a short-term improvement, the participants will be offered the opportunity to receive TMS as a therapy through the department of Neurology at Children's Hospital.

If you are interested or for more information about the study please contact Dr. Lindsay Oberman at 617-667-5247.