Daina Tagavi, a postdoctoral research fellow in the READi Lab, just returned from a  10-day trip to Iceland! This trip has been on Daina’s bucket list for years. It was also a time to celebrate graduating from her doctoral program, as she was unable to travel last year due to the pandemic.

Daina spent eight 8 days of her trip driving the Ring Road around the coast of the country. She stopped and explored several towns and national parks along the way. She spent her time hiking, soaking in hot springs, chasing the Northern Lights, and touring the countless waterfalls, craters, and volcanoes the country has to offer. She reported being surprised at how amazing the food was in Iceland and how many sheep were just hanging out everywhere! Daina also spent two days in the Capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, where she learned about the history of the country at the National Museum of Iceland and visited the famous Blue Lagoon. 

Welcome back, Daina! We’re glad you enjoyed your trip.

Shana Attar, a graduate student in the READi Lab, was recently awarded the UW Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Psychology Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year. This fellowship provides advanced interdisciplinary training in adolescent health to develop leaders who will reduce disparities and improve adolescent healthcare. As part of this fellowship, Shana will participate in didactic sessions and advocacy activities, and she will serve as a clinician on several adolescent health projects at UW Medical Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital. Shana will also complete a leadership project under the mentorship of LEAH advisors, and she hopes to begin developing an autism-specific, culturally responsive parenting program for caregivers of adolescents with autism who identify as culturally and linguistically diverse. The LEAH fellowship will fund Shana for three quarters. Way to go, Shana!  

Dr. Daina Tagavi, a postdoctoral research fellow in the READi Lab, recently received a Suzanne Wright Memorial Research Accelerator Grant from the Autism Science Foundation. Her co-investigator is Dr. Yael Dai, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Both awardees are working on our multi-site RISE Study. This funding will be used to compare the results of the virtual diagnostic tool we developed for RISE (the Communication Play Protocol), to those obtained from a traditional in-person assessment. Virtual assessments have the advantage of reaching a more diverse community and potentially improving opportunities for early intervention, so we are excited to see the results of this important research!. Congratulations to Daina, and Thank you, Autism Science Foundation!

Clara Herrera, BA, Research Study Assistant 

Clara is a Research Study Assistant at the READi Lab working on the RISE and Sprout studies. Born in Dallas, Texas and raised in Kent, Washington, she received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Washington. Prior to joining the lab, Clara was a student intern at the Seattle Children’s Autism Center and worked as a Certified Behavior Technician providing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services for children diagnosed with ASD. In her spare time, Clara enjoys taking dance classes, reading, and trying out new food spots around Seattle. She is excited to be a part of the READi team and aspires to pursue a PhD in clinical child psychology in the future.

The Sprout Study is still enrolling Part C Early Intervention Providers to examine the impact of Reciprocal Imitation Teaching (RIT) on provider practices and child and family outcomes. Read more about our study here and for any additional information, contact sproutstudy@uw.edu.

Congratulations to Shana!  Shana Attar is one of Wendy’s graduate students, who was invited to submit a poster for the 25^th National Conference on Mental Health Services Research (MHSR). This virtual conference took place this past Monday and Tuesday and included over 1,000 attendees.

Shana’s poster was based on data obtained from our Screen-Refer-Treat (SRT) study, which provided training to providers working in four underserved counties. She examined the extent to which our brief intervention (a 2-hour office based-workshop) for primary care providers increased and sustained their knowledge, practice, and fidelity of autism screening at 18-month well-child visits.  The majority of practices sustained their use of a digital M-CHAT-R/F (webM-CHAT-R/F) without experimenter intervention or incentives, suggesting that our low-cost, brief intervention can be scaled at-large to promote universal autism screening with fidelity in underserved communities nationwide.

 

Shana also participated in the New Investigators Workshop, which is part of the MHSR conference, where she heard from leaders inside NIMH about grant opportunities and picked up tips for how to successfully submit a grant application. We wish her the best of luck on future submissions!

 

August is finally here, meaning a new school year is just around the corner! Returning to school can be stressful for all children, but especially for children with autism and their families. When considering how to best start the transition back to school, visual supports are a great tool for preparing children for new or unfamiliar situations. Check out the link below to our website resource; “Visual Supports for Home and School” to learn more.

Tools & Materials

After nearly three years in the READi Lab, Taylor Kalmus will be transitioning from a Research Study Assistant to a graduate student!   Taylor will be moving closer to her hometown to pursue a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She is excited to learn how to support the language and social communication development of young children through family-centered care and to contribute to the understanding of language and cognitive development in young children for whom there are social communication concerns!   The Packers have another huge fan returning home, but those of us in the READi Lab will miss her!  Good luck, Taylor!

Dr. Alice Bravo recently completed her Ph.D. in Special Education at UW, and has accepted an academic position as Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Seattle Pacific University. Way to go, Alice! She will also serve as a Research Associate in UW’s School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training Center (SMART Center).

Alice came to UW with experience working as an early childhood special educator in the Part C early intervention system and as a behavior specialist providing remote and in-person home-, clinic-, and school-based services. We are fortunate to have had Alice participate in many READi Lab projects and activities during her graduate training, and are so happy to hear that she will be staying close by!

Hannah Benavidez, one of our READi Lab grad students, had her own Italian summer last month while visiting her husband on his deployment. He and his squadron are stationed in Sicily for the next few months, embarking on various missions throughout the area.

Over a few days during their precious free time together, Hannah and her husband explored some beautiful places in Palermo, including the vibrant Mondello beach! They also visited Taormina, which has some gorgeous views, fresh seafood and pasta, and breathtaking rocky beaches. As you can might imagine, they both got to enjoy some much needed R&R.

 

It was a whirlwind trip and now it’s back to work for them both!

 

 

Dana Parkin, MA, Student Research Study Assistant

Dana is a school psychology graduate student at the University of Washington and a student research assistant in the READi Lab. Originally from Spokane, Washington, Dana graduated from the University of Washington in 2018 with her Bachelor of Science in Biology. She obtained her Master of Arts in Behavior Analysis from Whitworth University in 2020. Before joining READi Lab, Dana worked with children with autism spectrum disorders at Seattle Children’s Autism Center as a research intern and in the field of applied behavior analysis as a Registered Behavior Technician. In her spare time, Dana enjoys spending time with her cat, watching college basketball (Go Zags!), and reading. She is excited to continue learning about early autism research and its application to the field of school psychology.

READi Lab’s own John Hershberger just returned from an adventure through Greece, his maternal homeland.

“My mother, Alexandra, was born in Athens, and she and her mother moved to the United States when my mother was seven years old.”

Over three weeks, John explored several Greek islands and the Greek capitol of Athens, visiting every ancient site, museum, and beach he could. He traveled from Athens to the islands of Rhodes, Crete, Naxos, and, finally, Chios, the birthplace of his yaya (grandmother), Irini. Along the way, he took some day trips to locations such as the ancient site of Delphi and the ruined city on the island of Delos.

“One of my favorite moments of the trip was visiting the small village of Kardamyla on Chios, where my yaya was born in 1909! On the waterfront of the village, I found a statue dedicated to ‘all the women of Kardamyla.’ It was an emotional experience when I realized that included my grandmother.”

John learned to speak Greek as a small child from his grandmother, and he was thrilled that the language came back to him. “I have not spoken much Greek in years, but I am so grateful that I learned the language at an early enough developmental state that it was easy to pick up again quickly!”

 

Congratulations, Kathryn! Kathryn Duffy-Greslo has been an undergraduate honors student in the READi lab for the past two years and graduated from UW with honors in early June. Kathryn is originally from Chicago and has enjoyed her time in Seattle the past four years.

During her time at our lab, Kathryn was awarded a competitive research grant to fund her honor’s thesis. Kathryn conducted interviews to assess the cultural sensitivity of a new tool to screen young children with autism that was developed by Dr. Wendy Stone and Dr. Alice Carter. Kathryn presented her work several times, including at the 2022 International Society for Autism Research and Undergraduate Research Symposium. 

Kathryn plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. This summer, she will be traveling and working at a summer camp for children with selective mutism. We wish her the best of luck!

Trent DesChamps has officially completed his training in UW’s Psychology program!  Dr. DesChamps has been a valuable member of the READi Lab, and Wendy had the honor of ‘hooding’ him during the departmental ceremony this past Saturday. He will be returning to Seattle to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the Seattle Clinic.

Gina Damilano, Med, BCBA, LBA

Gina is a Research Study Assistant in the READi Lab, working on the RISE and Sprout studies. Born and raised in the Central Valley of California, she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Human Development from Sonoma State University. Prior to joining the lab, Gina worked with children with developmental disabilities (primarily ASD) in school, clinic, home, and community settings. She has a Master’s degree in Special Education, with a focus on applied behavior analysis and autism spectrum disorder, from University of Washington. Gina loves watching baseball (Go Giants!), DIY crafts, and spending time on Lake Washington. She is excited for the opportunity to join the READiLab Team and learn more about autism research.

The READi Lab Sprout Study is looking for Part C EI Providers across the country to participate in a project examining the effect of RIT training on your practices and on child and family outcomes. RIT is a play-based early intervention for toddlers with social communication concerns or ASD. Our lab has been providing RIT training in Washington for over 10 years, and we have consistently received positive feedback from providers and families about their experiences. The Sprout study is conducted entirely remotely, so we can accommodate providers and families from anywhere in the country!

Interested in learning more? Please contact us at sproutstudy@uw.edu with questions or to set up an informational meeting to learn more!

Karla Uroza, BA, Research Study Assistant

Karla is a Research Study Assistant at the READi lab. Karla will be working on the RISE study as a bilingual (English/Spanish) caregiver liaison. Karla was born in San Diego and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. At 15 years old she immigrated to San Diego where she completed her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at San Diego State University. Prior to joining the lab, Karla worked as a preschool teacher for Navy child development centers. During her undergraduate career, she worked as Registered Behavioral Technician providing ABA services for children diagnosed with ASD and other developmental disabilities. In her spare time Karla enjoys hiking, traveling, and spending time outdoors. She aspires to earn a Master’s in Applied Child & Adolescent Psychology in the future.

Most children like to explore, play and learn — kids with sensory sensitivities are no exception! KidsQuest Children’s Museum (in Bellevue) has designed a low sensory afternoon for individuals or families with sensory sensitivities. Once per month, the museum offers children with a variety of sensory challenges the opportunity to engage in all of the museum activities, ranging from water play and arts and crafts to climbing structures and outdoor games. To foster a positive experience, the museum offers a “low sensory bag” that includes fidget toys, sunglasses and headphones that can used as needed. They have also created a social story to prepare children for what they will experience during their trip.

Low sensory afternoons occur on the 3^rd Thursday of each month, from 3-5pm. This museum experience is free for the whole family. To learn more visit their website and to reserve tickets follow this link.