On Friday, READi Lab research assistants John, Hailee, and Elyanah attended Centralia College’s Family Fun Fest. They shared information with caregivers and educators about READi Lab’s research studies and the resources on our website. It was wonderful to meet so many people in Lewis County, which is one of the counties participating in the SRT grant. Thank you to the Lewis County Autism Coalition for inviting us!

Seattle Pacific University is hosting their fourth annual Voices of Autism event on Saturday April 21st, 2018 from 1-5 P.M. The event includes a community resource fair for families, a keynote lecture on advocacy from an adult on the spectrum, and a panel discussion focusing on the experiences and perspectives of those living with ASD. Also featured is a new musical called “Neurotistic,” that follows a young adult with autism, written by a former SPU student who self-identifies as being on the autism spectrum. The event is free and open to the public! To find out more and reserve tickets, click here.

On April 17 2018 at 12:00pm EDT (9:00am PST), Spectrum News will be hosting a free webinar discussing and debating the diagnostic criteria for autism. This webinar will feature Dr. Catherine Lord (Director of Center for Autism and the Developing Brain and Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine), Dr. Sally Rogers (Professor of Psychiatry at the MIND institute at the University of California, Davis), and Dr. David Skuse (Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the Institute of Child Health at University College London). It will begin with a live panel discussion on the DSM-5 and will be followed by an audience Q&A. To learn more and register for the webinar, click here.

The Seattle Mariners are celebrating Autism Awareness Day on Sunday, April 15^th at Safeco Field! Attendees will have the opportunity to claim a free Autism Awareness Day t-shirt with their ticket purchase. Seven dollars of every ticket sold through their website will benefit Autism Speaks. The Mariners will also have a sensory-sensitive quiet area at the Ellis Pavilion for families on the day of the game. First pitch is at 1pm against the Oakland Athletics—so go root, root, root for the home team! Click here to learn more about this event!

The Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC) is a multidisciplinary, international community of researchers committed to understanding the developmental origins and earliest signs of autism by studying later-born infants of children with autism. READi Lab director Wendy Stone is a long-standing member (and previous Chair) of the BSRC. Through collaborative research projects, this group has identified both behavioral and biological markers of risk and disrupted development prior to the age of diagnosis, which has sparked studies of early intervention in infancy. Check out our website at www.babysiblingsresearchconsortium.org to find information for parents and to learn more about our current studies and research publications.