Katarzyna (Kasia) Chawarska, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology
Director of Developmental Disabilities Clinic for Infants and Toddlers

Research Interests

My research interests focus primarily on two lines of inquiry: (1) research leading to a better understanding of the early phenotypic expression of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and (2) examining mechanisms that underlie gaze and face processing abnormalities observed in infants and toddlers with ASD. My clinical research has been centered on examining the stability of early diagnosis of ASD, variability of the early syndrome expression as related to outcome, as well as determining when and in which areas the developmental trajectories of infants with ASD begin to diverge from those without social disability. Towards this end I have been following prospectively the development of infants who are either at risk for development of ASD or who are showing early signs of the disorder and tracking their development of verbal, nonverbal and social-cognitive skills.

Experimental work in my lab is focused on studying visual processing in young children with ASD using eye-tracking technology. We are currently conducting studies on face scanning and recognition, attentional aspects of face processing, as well as perception of direct gaze and gaze-related intentional action in the first three year of life.

Determining which components of gaze and face processing are impaired and which are preserved in infants and toddlers with ASD will help advance our appreciation of mechanisms underlying social abnormalities in the early stages of the disorder. This evolving understanding of the condition will be consequential for designing early screening and intervention methods.

Recent Publications

• Chawarska, K., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. (2008). Autism in Infants and Toddlers: Diagnosis, Assessment and Treatment. Guilford Press, New York, NY.
• Chawarska, K., Klin, A., Paul, R., & Volkmar, F. (2007). Autism spectrum disorder in the second year: Stability and change in syndrome expression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Vol, 48(2), 128-138.
• Chawarska, K., & Volkmar, F. (2007). Impairments in monkey and human face recognition in 2-year-old toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Delay. Developmental Science, 10(2), 266-279.
• Chawarska, K., Paul, R., Klin, A., Hannigen, S., Dichtel, L. E., & Volkmar, F. (2007). Parental recognition of developmental problems in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(1), 62-72.17.
• Anderson, G., Jacobs-Stannard, A., Chawarska, K., Volkmar, F., & Kliman, H. (2006). Placental trophoblast inclusions in ASD. Biological Psychiatry.
• Schultz, B., Chawarska, K., & Volkmar, F. (2006). The social brain in autism: Perspectives form neuropsychology and neuroimaging. In: S.O. Modlin, & J.L.R., Rubenstien (Eds). Understanding Autism: From basic neuroscience to treatment.
• Chawarska, K., & Volkmar, F. (2005) Autism in infants and toddlers. In: F. Volkmar, A. Klin, & R. Paul (Eds). Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders. John Willey & Sons, NJ.
• Volkmar, F., Chawarska, K., Klin, A., (2005). Autism in Infancy and Early Childhood. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 1-21.
• Klin, A., Chawarska, K., Rubin, E., & Volkmar, F. (2004). Clinical assessment of young children at risk for autism. In: R. DelCarment-Wiggins & A. Carter (Eds). Handbook of infant and Toddler Mental Health Assessment. Oxford University Press, NY.
• Klin, A., Chawarska, K., Rubin, E., Morgan, T., Weisner, L., & Volkmar, F. (2004). Clinical case conference: Autism at the age of 15 months. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 1-8.
• Chawarka, K., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. (2003). Automatic attention cueing through eye movement in 2-year-old children with autism. Child Development, 74, 1108-23
• Chawarska, Volkmar, & Klin (in press). Not a Captive Audience: Attentional abnormalities in response to novel faces in toddlers with ASD. Archives of General Psychiatry.
• Chawarska K., & Shic, F. (in press) Looking but not seeing: Atypical visual scanning and recognition of faces in 2 and 4-year old children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
• Chawarska, K., Klin, A., Paul, R., Macari, S., & Volkmar, F.R. (in press). A Prospective Study of Toddlers with ASD: Short-Term Diagnostic and Cognitive Outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Contact

Campus Address
Child Study Center
40 Temple Street, Suite 71
New Haven, CT 06510

E-mail
katarzyna.chawarska@yale.edu

Office Phone
203-764-5931

Fax
203-764-4373