Rutgers University

Dr. Elizabeth Torres of Rutgers University studies autism as a sensorimotor difference and her insights are changing the field. Dr. Torres would love to hear from YAP families AND staff as she gathers this important information on autism services for the National Science Foundation. Here is her summary information about the project:

The Sensory-Motor Integration Laboratory at Rutgers University would like to gain insight from families that have a child/children with autism, as well as from care-givers and individuals that help find services for these families. We are starting a new project in the lab that hopes to transform our research into an accessible product that will be a valuable tool for the autism community. Our first step is to get a better grasp on the struggles families have to overcome and what unmet needs they cope with. We can only get a glimpse into their lives when working with children in the lab, which doesn't capture the full weight of their situations. Our goal is to get a better understanding of what families and caregivers face on a daily basis so we can take these experiences into account when developing our technology.  If you are interested in helping us with our initiative, please contact the PhD student leading this project, Jillian Nguyen at jinguyen@rutgers.edu or by cell 201-486-2222. If emailing, please use the subject heading: "ASD Project Interview Interest." You are also welcome to contact Dr. Elizabeth Torres of Rutgers, who is overseeing this project, at 732-208-3158.  

Trinity College

The second project is being conducted by Emily Dillon, a PhD student from Trinity College in Dublin, and she is interested in the gender differences in the expression of language on the autism spectrum. Some research suggests that men and women may show the signs of autism in different ways, and by learning what these ways are, we can help identify autism earlier and hopefully adapt services and aids more specifically to individualized needs. They are currently recruiting children with autism from all of Ireland (and parts of the United States) between the ages of 6 and 18 with some conversational language. If you may be interested in participating, or even just have some questions, they would love to hear from you!  Please contact:

Emily Dillon emdillon@tcd.ie
Telephone: 01 896 3083
On Facebook:The Irish Family Autism Study
On Twitter:https://twitter.com/IrishFamAutism