Last week Wendy traveled to British Columbia, Canada, to learn about barriers to autism services for First Nations and to provide STAT training for early childhood providers in the Squamish and Nlaka’pamux Nations. This project was spearheaded by Grace Iarocci, professor at Simon Fraser University, Romona Baxter, executive director of Nzen’man Child and Family Development Centre and Rona Sterling-Collins, Consultant, who obtained provincial and federal government grants to conduct this work. Wendy was joined by Courtney Burnette, PhD, a STAT Trainer and Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico. They met remarkable family members and service providers, and saw amazing landscapes as they traveled the province from West Vancouver, to Merritt, to Lytton.  We extend our special thanks to the staff in the Ayas Men Men Child and Family Services Centre in West Vancouver and the Nzen’man Child and Family Development Centre in Lytton for hosting the STAT training workshops. It was a true honor and humbling experience to be welcomed so warmly by those with whom we share this earth.

Trevor Pacelli, a young man with ASD, wrote a book titled  Six-Word Lessons on Growing up Autistic: 100 Lessons to Understand How Autistic People See Life to help educate parents, teachers, and friends about how some individuals with ASD think and feel. Some of the topics covered in the book include having a different view of the world, the challenges that come with sudden changes and certain life events, and handling school transitions. Trevor’s personal experiences give readers an inside look at the world of an individual with ASD and encourage inclusion in the home, school, and workplace. To read more and watch Trevor’s interview with King 5 News, click here.

The transition from high school into the adult world can be a daunting experience for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The specialized services and supports provided through the school system are no longer available when they enter the workforce after graduation.  Jason Henley, an individual with autism, dreamed of becoming a chef after he graduated from high school. Knowing that her son was unlikely to have a successful interview at a restaurant and would likely be put to work doing dishes, Jason’s mother found a way to empower her son to fulfill his passion for cooking. At age 18, Henley’s mother helped him open his own restaurant, No Label at the Table Food Company. This gluten free and dairy free food company is staffed only by individuals with autism, helping them pursue their passions despite the unique challenges they face. Jason and his mom are a testament to the fact that disabilities don’t have to stand in the way of dreaming big and fulfilling your aspirations! To learn more about Jason’s story, click here.

Dr. Caitlin Hudac was the guest lecturer in Wendy’s PSYCH 560 class yesterday. Caitlin described her research exploring the “social brain,” using measures of EEG, ERP, MRI, and eye tracking in children with and without autism. As a bonus, she provided an EEG demonstration with Trent as our model. Thank you so much, Caitlin (and Trent)!

Seattle Children’s Autism Center is hosting an annual Trick or Treat Practice Party at the welcoming hall of the Autism Center. This event will take place on the October 27^th, from 10:00 am to noon. Toothpaste and non-sugar goodie bags will be handed out. There will be plenty of volunteers to play with your child and parking spaces available for your visit.  Invite your family and friends to this autism-friendly event to enjoy trick or treating, costumes, games, prizes, and more! For more details about this event and tips and social stories to help prepare your child for Halloween, click here!

Hailee, Elyanah, Lisa, and Wendy traveled to Spokane on Tuesday for a partnership meeting with Guilds’ School Early Intervention providers.  Many thanks to Colleen Fuchs and Christina Fox for their time and warm welcome, to Dana Stevens for being a wonderful community liaison, and to all of the providers for their contributions to, and feedback on, the SRT project. We love our Spokane partners!

Trent Deschamps, Wendy’s graduate student, led a lively discussion during this week’s PSYCH 560 seminar on Current Topics in Autism Research.  The theme for Fall quarter is “What is Autism? Biology, Brain, and Behavior,” and upcoming themes for Winter and Spring are “Treatment Approaches for Autism” and “Autism and Society.” Be on the lookout for a future action shot of Catherine Dick, another student of Wendy’s who is assisting with the seminar.

A new play written by Catya McMullen, “AGNES,” recently premiered in New York City. The central character is on the autism spectrum, and the cast and creative team include individuals who identify as being neurologically atypical. From the outset of production, the hiring team sought to feature artists who understood the characters in a fundamental way through their shared experience of autism. AGNES is a drama that paints a picture of the inherent desire for human connection, emphasizing that people both with and without autism struggle with communication in one way or another. Toward this end, the play empowers individuals with autism to embrace their struggles and channel their energy toward what they’re passionate about. In the article, actor and producer Laura Ramadei states, “Radical representation goes well beyond optics. Like any process when you’re being inclusive, it means asking some hard questions and asking for a certain generosity towards the people in the room who need to be educated. We wanted to give artists their own agency in how they wanted to be included.” To read the full Playbill article and learn more about the cast’s experiences, click here.

Today Charlie and his dad helped us develop learning tools and videos that we will use for our Pathways grant. This grant will enable us to provide Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) workshops for early intervention and early learning providers, and to evaluate the effectiveness of RIT in improving outcomes for children and families.

We are often looking for volunteers to help us develop materials for use in training community providers. If you or your child would like to contribute to educational resource development, please contact us at pathasd@uw.edu or (206) 543-9353.

Next month, Dr. Gary Stobbe and colleagues will be launching a pilot program called “ECHO Autism: Transition to Adulthood.” The goal of this program is to help pediatric and adult practitioners care for their patients with autism spectrum disorder and ease the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare. This low-cost, high-impact intervention is accomplished by linking interdisciplinary specialist teams with primary care clinicians to discuss complex cases, receive mentorship, and share their expertise across a virtual network. Participation includes taking part in weekly, 1 hour learning sessions and completing online pre- and post- surveys. Free CME credits are available.

The program begins October 9, 2018, so don’t hesitate! Please click here to view the flyer with more information. For questions, contact Robin Wilcox at wilcoxr@health.missouri.edu or at 573-884-2131.

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.

We are excited to announce our new partnership with the Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence, which delivers training to child welfare workers, foster parents, and relative caregivers. In an effort to provide more e-Learning tools and opportunities, they now offer training credit for completing our online “Understanding Autism” video series. Our lab developed this five-chapter video series through a grant from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, in collaboration with Seattle Children’s Autism Center and Gigantic Planet. The video series was designed for caregivers of newly diagnosed children, and offers helpful tips and strategies from other parents as well as professionals. To learn more about the Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence, click here. To watch the videos on our website click here (English) or click here (Spanish).

Julia is a Muppet with autism who made her debut on Sesame Street in April 2017, and has already made quite an impact! A recent article by Today describes how Julia inspired a child to befriend a boy with autism. On the show, Julia often engages in behaviors such as spinning or flapping her hands. Four-year-old Julian also has autism and shares these behaviors, which sometimes can be off-putting to children not familiar with autism. However, a little girl who watched Sesame Street recognized these behaviors in Julian and invited him to play with her—a great reminder that, as Julian’s parent mentions, “representation matters”! To read the full Today article, click here and to learn about Dr. Wendy Stone’s work with Sesame Street to help develop Julia and their autism initiative, click here!

Last week, Lisa and Wendy travelled to Portland, OR, to conduct STAT ‘Trainer Training’ for Dr. Bob Nickel, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). On the first day, Lisa led a STAT training workshop for a group that included pediatricians, child psychiatry fellows, and early intervention providers. On the second day, Dr. Nickel did a terrific job of conducting a STAT training workshop for a different group of professionals. After just a few more training hurdles, Dr. Nickel will become one of very few certified STAT Trainers, and will be off to the Ukraine and Viet Nam to train providers overseas in the use of the STAT.

A recent article in Spectrum News unpacks the definition of social communication and how it relates to individuals with ASD. Communication is an inherently social behavior; the abilities to understand and respond to others, and  to convey our own needs and ideas, are key to social interactions. The author explains that, while “social communication” may seem like a redundant term, understanding communication within a social context provides insight into some of the challenges associated with ASD. Some individuals with ASD may have difficulties reading facial expressions, using gestures, following the tempo of speech, modulating rhythm and intonation of speech (i.e., prosody), staying on topic, and taking conversational turns (i.e., pragmatics).  However, the author emphasizes that communication is a two-way street, and that individuals with and without ASD can work together to accept the differences in the way they express themselves. To read the full Spectrum News article, click here!

Your input is needed! Service providers from the South Sound Autism Community are looking for individuals with autism and their families to complete a survey about local resources – including their experiences with services, barriers to receiving care, and future services they would like to see. The information you provide will help inform South Sound providers about directions for future service development and fundraising efforts! To share your voice and provide input, please follow this link: https://uwt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8D2HprE4DopLw5n.