autism research

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Can research really change the future of autism in Georgia? You can help find out more here!

 

SPARK - Emory - Autism Research

SPARK – Emory – Autism Research


In Georgia, there are an estimated 1 in 64 children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and likely as many adults. While we know it is most important to provide appropriate support to address challenges and to build strengths today, the Emory Autism Center (EAC) is also committed to understanding the complex biology associated with autism to gain a better understanding of causes and treatments. Therefore, Emory is working to reach out to people with ASD and their families to be part of the SPARK study.

The goal of SPARK is to accelerate autism research. By building a community of tens of thousands of individuals with autism and their biological family members who provide behavioral and genetic data, SPARK will be the largest autism research study to date. We need your help to get the word out!

The easiest way for a family, or an adult with ASD, to start enrollment is to go online to www.sparkforautism.org/emory or to contact Mr. Jermel Wallace directly (Jermel.L.Wallace@emory.edu or 404-727-8350). We have brochures, business cards, postcards and a flowchart of the registration process and would be happy to get that to you.

We would appreciate it if you could share this information with your clients affected by ASD. Possibly, display a poster and information cards in your waiting room and directly give information to individuals and families affected by ASD at any age. We can provide more copies anytime. Just let us know. Also, we would appreciate the opportunity to come and tell you more about the study in person. Mr. Wallace will follow-up with a phone call in the next few weeks.




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eLearning for Autism – Help a student at Penn State with their Doctoral Research into Autism

eLearning for Autism – Help a student at Penn State with their Doctoral Research into Autism

eLearning for Autism (https://elearningforautism.wordpress.com) is a new research project designed to better understand how online education can help

Megan Runion - Autism Researcher

Megan Runion – Autism Researcher

families who have children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is most relevant to parents who are adjusting to a child’s recent ASD diagnosis, but the materials are freely available to anyone with an interest in learning about ASDs.

Participation in this project is completely voluntary. If you choose to participate in the eLearning project you will have the opportunity to access interactive online learning modules to help you learn new ways to help your child and family. The modules cover
• What Autism is,
• ASD Treatments,
• Changing Behavior,
• Stress Management and Coping, and
• Navigating Systems.


These online learning modules are free and you can stop participating at any time. One participant will win a $25 electronic gift certificate! You can also choose to receive feedback on your levels of stress and self-efficacy after completing optional follow up surveys.

Learn more about participating by visiting the eLearning for Autism website: https://elearningforautism.wordpress.com

Please feel free to contact the researcher, Megan Runion at mcr19@psu.edu, with any questions. Thank you!

This research is being conducted by Megan Runion, a second year graduate student in the School Psychology program at Penn State. Megan is excited to offer learning opportunities for families and to learn more about how families can best benefit from online learning.

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Parents of children on the autism spectrum please help a student at Northumbria University with some research!

Northumbria University

Northumbria University

A student from Northumbria University tells us “I’m conducting some research into the effect of parenting stress on everyday memory as part of my undergraduate project at Northumbria University and your help would be greatly appreciated! The online survey should take no more than 20 minutes to complete and involves answering a series of questions about your levels of stress, everyday memory and sleep quality. If you’re interested in taking part, you must be over 18, the full-time parent to a child between the age of 3 and 19, and not taking any medication that might affect your levels of stress and/or quality of sleep. Also, the study has received ethical approval from the faculty of health and life sciences at Northumbria University.

Many Thanks,

Jordan Chaim

https://nupsych.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1Bxu1pM9P9HqErX


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Gender and Autism – Autistic people what gender (or sex) are you? Or those of your autistic loved ones?

Gender and Autism – Autistic people what gender (or sex) are you? Or those o your autistic loved ones?

Autism Acceptance

Autism Acceptance

Sorry an odd question but let me explain.

As some of my more regular readers know that I have a , now, nine year old autistic son and also I spend nearly a decade of my life working in healthcare survey research.

This has given me a huge distrust of any government supplied data. (For lots of reasons, in fact, but tardiness (by our governments) does come into it).

So one of the figures which interested me at the moment are that of gender and autistic diagnosis. The number thrown out a lot is that only 20% of people diagnosed with autism are female.

Is this true?

To find out I have decided to run my own poll on the subject which you can find below.

It would be great if you could take part either on your own behalf or those of a loved one.

Thanks very much in advance.

PS I am aware of the developments in the autistic transgender community and I have tried to cover to some extent in the possible answers. I appreciate such endeavours are quite good enough so I would be grateful if you could share any thoughts you many have regarding definitions of autistic transpeople in the comments section below! Again thanks.

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Faces of the F.A.C.E. Lab – the Importance of Autism Research


Faces of the F.A.C.E. Lab – the Importance of Autism Research

Faces of the F.A.C.E. Lab – the Importance of Autism Research

A guest post from Julia Mertens, FACE Lab Research Assistant

“Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy. If you were to get rid of all the autism genetics, there would be no more Silicon Valley.”

“We have got to work on keeping these children engaged in the world.”

-Temple Grandin, Autism Advocate

These two quotes by Temple Grandin summarize why we at the F.A.C.E. Lab are

FACE Lab

FACE Lab

so passionate about what we do, and why we hope families will participate in autism research. I’ve only been with the F.A.C.E. Lab for a month and a half now, and I have already been humbled by the intelligence and creativity of 10-16 year olds with and without autism. It has been centuries since the human who created the stone spear died, but I can see their legacy in the faces of these kids.

But sometimes our geniuses with autism have to struggle in order to be accepted by society. Research shows that social communication is directly related to success. When almost every job requires an in-person interview, social difficulties can conceal the unique talents and potential of someone with an autism spectrum disorder.


I work at the F.A.C.E. Lab so that I can help improve therapy, and so that those geniuses are in the best position to contribute to our society which desperately needs them.

F.A.C.E. Lab

F.A.C.E. Lab at Emerson College

Currently, our research needs children ages 10-16 with and without autism to participate in our studies. Our study takes place in two sessions, 2-3 hours each. Participants are compensated for their time, and parking is subsidized.

The tasks the child will complete include: standardized tests, watching videos of people talking, answering some questions about the videos, and having a conversation with one of the F.A.C.E. Lab researchers. During some parts of the study, the child will have small stickers on their face to track facial expressions and pain-free electrodes on their hands, clavicles and a rib in order to measure heart rate and skin conductance.

Please check out our website and Facebook for more information:

https://www.facebook.com/FACElabatEmersonCollege?ref=tn_tnmn

http://facelab.emerson.edu/

If you’d like to participate, have any ideas as to how we can reach out to families, or think of any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact us at facelab@emerson.edu or (617) 824-8710.