The GNC at Sahlgrenska Academy is a platform for conducting research aimed at developing and establishing new methods for early intervention, examination, investigation and intervention/treatment in the fields of neuropsychiatry and developmental neurology ("ESSENCE", i.e. Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations). World-leading research is currently being conducted at the GNC on for example autism, ADHD, motor abnormalities, tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and conduct disorders.
Professor Christopher Gillberg
ESSENCE is an acronym for Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations that was coined by Christopher Gillberg in 2010. It has received widespread attention throughout the world, and many studies are now launched under this umbrella term. ESSENCE refers to the whole group of neurodevelopmental/neuropsychiatric disorders that present with impairing symptoms in early childhood and includes ADHD, ASD, DCD, IDD, SLI, Tourette syndrome, early onset bipolar disorder, behaviour phenotype syndromes, and a variety of neurological and seizure disorders presenting with major behavioural/cognitive problems at an early age.
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Jonathan Delafield-Butt is a Reader in Child Development and Director of the Laboratory for Innovation in Autism at the University of Strathclyde. His multidisciplinary team work between Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Child Psychology, Psychiatry and Education for the development of wearable and smart game technologies for children with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders. His research advances knowledge of the embodied and affective foundations of child psychological development, with special attention to a subtle but significant motor disruption evident in autism spectrum disorder. His group is currently focused on a large, multi-site diagnostic trial of an iPad assessment at the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre and in Scotland. Read more about Jonathan
Emilia Carlsson is a speech and language pathologist who received her degree in SLP from the University of Gothenburg in 2007 and subsequently her master’s degree in 2011. Her PhD project is based at the institute of neuroscience and physiology at GNC and at the unit for Speech and Language Pathology. Emilia has previously been active as a child speech and language pathologist in primary care but is now a full-time PhD student. Her PhD project is titled “Language and Communicative functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder”. In the study, children in the so-called AUDIE project (AUtism Detection and Intervention in Early life), who have received their autism diagnosis around or before the age of 3, are followed up again when they reach early school age. As part of her project, Emilia is also including a section concerning parents’ experiences of going through the screening and diagnosis process. Read more about Emilia
