If you are participating the Autism Speaks Walk this weekend, please look for us in our READiLab T-shirts! Hailee and Danielle will be joining the walk this year to represent our lab and to hand out limited-supply goodies. They will be sharing resources with families, as well as information about our ImPACT early intervention study, for which recruitment is ending in November. The Walk will take place Saturday, September 22 from 9am to 12pm at the Seattle Center. For more information about the walk, and to register for the event, click here. We hope to see you there!

“Liam’s World” is a unique photo documentary by Erin Lefevre spotlighting the life of her younger brother, Liam, who is on the autism spectrum. Lefevre seeks to explore the world through Liam’s eyes, showing the life of an adolescent with ASD growing into an adult. The ongoing art project has chronicled Liam’s life from age 14 to 18. Lefevre’s photos provide an intimate look at everything from Liam’s big moments exploring Central Park to his day-to-day routines with his mother. Each image is also captioned by Liam himself, providing deeper insight into his thoughts and feelings at the time of the photo. To learn more about this engaging photo documentary, click here.

We are seeking Seattle-area families who have a child with autism and a toddler between 10 and 18 months old to participate in a study evaluating a parent-implemented intervention called ImPACT (Improving Parents as Communication Teachers). The study includes 6 visits to our lab over 9 months, and a diagnostic evaluation and report at the end of the study. All families receive compensation for their time, monitoring of the toddlers’ development, and the chance (50-50) to receive in-home intervention. If you would like to learn more about this project, please call us at 206-221-3595 or email us* at READiLab@uw.edu.

*Please be aware that we cannot assure confidentiality of email.

Husky ADAPT (Accessible Design and Play Technology) is a graduate student-led organization at the UW with a mission to improve accessibility and inclusion within our communities through toy adaptation, ability-based design, and educational outreach. They create adapted toys specially modified to allow children with delays/disabilities the opportunity to play and learn as independently as possible. They also focus on teaching students, engineers, clinicians, and community members to adapt toys to further cultivate an inclusive environment for adaptive play. Families, clinics, therapists, schools, and other organizations can request FREE adaptable toys through HuskyADAPT! You can pick a toy from their adaptable toy list, or suggest a new toy for them to adapt. What an outstanding resource! To learn more about this organization and to request adapted toys, click here.

To shine a spotlight on women with autism, Spectrum News recently teamed up with Caveat, a speakeasy stage in New York, to present ‘Flying University: Women on the Autism Spectrum.’  During this event, three powerful autistic women were video-recorded while describing a variety of experiences. Lindsey Nebeker talks about navigating love with her husband, Dave.  Sarah Luterman shares some heart-wrenching experiences she has had with employment.  Morénike Giwa Onaiwu discusses how race, ethnicity, and culture interface with autism and family roles. To view these engaging and thoughtful speakers, click here.