Matthew Speltz, PhD

Overview

Medical/Professional School

University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine, Columbia

Fellowship

Psychology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle

Clinical Interests

Neurodevelopmental assessment of craniofacial disorders; psychiatric assessment and diagnosis of adolescent disorders; disruptive disorders; autism; anxiety disorders; behavioral medicine

Research Description

The Infant Learning Project is a 5-year prospective study funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research examining the neurobehavioral outcomes of infants with single-suture, non-syndromic craniosynstosis. Single-suture craniosynostosis is characterized by premature fusion of two, adjoining plates of the skull, which result in malformations and dysmorphology of the head in the absence of corrective surgery.

A total of 250 children with one of four types of single-suture synostosis (sagittal, metopic, right unilateral coronal and left unilateral coronal) are being recruited from four clinical centers across the U.S. (in Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, and Atlanta). A case-matched comparison group of 250 normal healthy children is also being followed.

Participants are assessed at 3 time points - at time of enrollment (14 months of age or younger), at 18 months, and at 36 months. By following prospectively a relatively large sample of infants with and without targeted diagnoses of craniosynostosis (n = 500) and using a comprehensive battery of well-known standardized tests and neurocognitive tasks that can predict later learning and language disabilities, we hope to avoid the methodological problems experienced by past researchers.

Specific study aims are to:

(1) Characterize the neurobehavioral development and parental adjustment of infants with single-suture fusions, as compared to carefully matched, typically developing infants

(2) Examine relations between neurobehavioral development and degree of abnormality in bone and underlying brain tissue among children with craniosynostosis (using new CT scan measurement models)

(3) Examine relations between neurobehavioral development and presence of genetic mutations among children with unicoronal synostosis

(4) Develop predictive models of 36-month functional outcomes for all infants with craniosynostosis

(5) Determine relation between age of cranioplastic surgery and neurobehavioral development

Research Focus Area

Behavioral / Mental Health

Publications