The Woodland Park Zoo, in an effort to accommodate children and teens with autism, has worked to create less stimulating opportunities and resources for families wanting to visit. They have developed a “sensory map,” which points out the quieter areas of the park, as well as a “sensory garden,” which has interactive activities designed to provide soothing stimulation. To read more about these inclusive opportunities, click here!

For the second year in a row, the READi Lab was excited to attend Centralia College’s Family Fun Fest last Friday! Family Fun Fest is an annual event in Lewis County, one of the counties participating in our SRT study, where kids can play while parents learn about local resources in the area. Representing the lab were John and Elyanah, who tabled alongside other autism-focused organizations and shared information about ongoing research and resources for parents. Our various crafts (including a make-your-own Julia puppet station) was a big hit with the kids, as you can see! Thank you once again to the Lewis County Autism Coalition and The Link for inviting us!

Today the READi Lab bids a very bitter-sweet farewell to Hailee Hannah as she embarks on a new journey. Hailee will be pursuing her MA in Applied Child and Adolescent Psychology here at UW starting this June! During her time in the READi Lab, she worked with caregivers and EI providers on the Screen-Refer-Treat Study and performed behavioral assessments for the ImPACT and Pathways Studies. Although we will miss her keen intellect and her passion for working with children, we are very excited for her next steps and wish her all the best.

Max Park, a 15-year-old with autism, has an exceptional talent for solving Rubik’s Cubes—so much so that he has competed in national and world competitions, and now holds multiple world records for his incredible speed. Max began “cubing” at a very young age as a therapeutic way to help him socialize with other kids and develop his fine motor skills. Early on, Max’s parents noticed that as he began competing, Max’s communication skills grew, as the shared interest helped Max feel comfortable initiating social interactions. Little did his parents know how exceptionally talented he would become as a speed cuber. Max’s plans to continue competing with the motto, ‘don’t think, just solve.’ Way to go, Max! To read more about his story in Guinness World Records, click here here!

If so, the King County Interagency Coordinating Council (KCICC) is seeking your input! They are looking for parents and caregivers whose children have participated in early intervention within the last 5 years to join their new Family Involvement Committee. The mission of KCICC is to assure the delivery of coordinated, comprehensive, family centered, culturally relevant, community-based services for all children from birth to 3 years with special needs and their families. The Family Involvement Committee will provide an opportunity for families to meet each other and connect with community resources and service providers, and help inform the King County Birth to Three Services system. There will also be opportunities to attend leadership trainings. Participation involves five in-person meetings, for which stipends, interpreters, and childcare are available. If you are interested, please complete the survey here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K8WQM6D no later than April 30, 2019.

…by announcing the introduction of Julia’s family for the first time in Muppet form! Julia’s parents, big brother, and dog Rose appear in new digital videos celebrating the importance of families. They’ve also released new resources focused on bullying, which disproportionately affects children with autism. All of these resources are available on sesamestreet.org/autism in both English and Spanish. There’s also an all-new episode with Julia airing Monday April 8^th on HBO and PBS Kids!

On Wednesday, April 24 at 11:00amPST, Open Doors for Multicultural Families is hosting a FREE webinar designed for professionals who seek resources in different languages to work with linguistically diverse parents of youth with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In this webinar, participants will increase knowledge and understanding of transition-related resources in 9 languages. They will also learn how to share these resources with linguistically- and culturally-diverse youth and their families. Due to limited space, registration is required! To register, click here.  For more information, here is the full flyer:

The latest newsletter from the UW Center on Human Development and Disability featured our very own Dr. Wendy Stone! The article spotlights the work that Dr. Stone has done to help understand barriers to getting an autism diagnosis early, as well as to improve accessibility to services. Dr. Stone’s research focuses on many dimensions related to service access, such as serving underserved communities, using evidence-based tools for screening and intervention, and evaluating how intervention affects family-provider relationships. In this article, she discusses these topics within the context of the research we do at the READi Lab—specifically the Pathways Study. To read the full article, click here.

If so, you may be eligible for a research study conducted by Drs. Stone and Sommerville. The study is examining how infants with an older sibling with ASD understand social interactions and other people’s emotions. This project will be ending on May 31, so this is our home stretch of data collection! Participation involves coming to UW, where your infant will watch videos while we measure eye movements, heart rate, and skin responses, and completing several questionnaires about your infant and yourself. This is a great opportunity to contribute to autism research! If you are interested, please email eccl@uw.edu or call 206-221-2240.

Previous studies have suggested that infant siblings of children with ASD have early delays in motor development. The Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC) designed a project, led by Dr. Jana Iverson, to examine whether any specific type of motor delay might be an early marker for ASD. The BSRC database, which contains longitudinal data from 6 months of age to 3 years for infants with and without an older sibling with ASD, was used to identify 625 children from 8 research sites who had the relevant assessments. Fine and gross motor skills on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning were examined at 6 months to determine whether they predicted ASD symptom severity at 36 months. Results revealed that fine motor skills overall were lower in the infant siblings of children with ASD than the comparison group, and were associated with later ASD diagnosis, but no specific motor signs predicted an ASD diagnosis.  Fun fact: Wendy is a member of the BSRC and is a co-author on this paper.

To read more, click here.

“What happens when people who have trouble fitting into a traditional workplace get one designed just for them?” This question is posed in an online New York Times article about two companies that are designed to accommodate individuals with ASD: Auticon and MindSpark.  At these companies, individuals with ASD “define the predominant culture,” rather trying to fit into a norm that is challenging for them to navigate. To read more about these businesses, their goals, and their employees, click here!

This week our lab welcomed Erica Caesar, our Program Officer for the Pathways grant! Erica met with project staff, toured our space, viewed assessment videos, and discussed our progress.  It was wonderful to meet her, and we appreciate the time she spent with us!

Sarah Edmunds, one of Wendy’s graduate students, has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital! Sarah is currently on internship at Duke University. During her postdoc, she will be providing clinical services within the Division of Developmental Medicine and conducting research with Dr. Susan Faja (also a UW alum!) in the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, housed within Harvard Medical School. Sarah looks forward to expanding her program of longitudinal research to include transdiagnostic conceptualizations of developmental differences in ASD, as well as identifying feasible electrophysiological indicators of response to intervention.

Ben’s Fund is now accepting applications for grant awards to pay for summer programs for children and young adults with autism. Ben’s Fund works in partnership with Families for Effective Autism Treatment (FEAT) to provide support to children and young adults with autism through financial assistance and guidance. Applications for summer programs are due by May 1, 2019, and grant awardees will receive up to $1,000 per qualifying child or young adult per award year. To download the application and review FAQs, click here!

On February 28^th at 6pm, Open Doors for Multicultural Families will be hosting an ‘IEP Overview and Development’ Parent Workshop at the Federal Way Public Schools Support Services Building. This workshop will cover a wide array of topics, including: who is eligible for special education, what is included in an IEP, who performs IEP evaluations, and how schools use IEPs. The event includes FREE on-site childcare, refreshments, and translation assistance. Registration is required! To learn more and to register for the workshop, click here.

Lizzy Karp, one of Wendy’s grad students, was offered a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Autism at Stanford University for next year, which she has accepted! During her fellowship year, Lizzy will be involved in conducting diagnostic assessments and providing evidence-based interventions such as Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) and the PEERS program for individuals with ASD and their families. She will also continue to develop her program of research examining the experiences of caregivers who participate in interventions with their children. Lizzy is currently completing her predoctoral internship in the TEACCH Autism Program at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

We are excited to report that Sarah Edmunds, Wendy’s grad student who is currently doing her clinical internship at Duke University, will be giving a job talk today for a faculty position at University of Miami! Knock em’ dead, Sarah!

This year, two non-profit organizations, The Art of Autism and Mainly Mozart, are teaming up to sponsor an art competition for individuals age 14 and older who identify as neurodiverse. Cash prizes range from $25-$150. The goal of the competition is to celebrate the inner-genius within all individuals and to promote the opening activities of the Mainly Mozart festival, which begins on May 30^th in San Diego. Work of any medium may be submitted, and music-themed pieces will receive priority judging. For more information on submission, click here!

Happy birthday to our kind, caring, and curious friend on Sesame Street, Julia! We hope you have a great day! #HappyBirthdayJulia #SeeAmazing

Last week, Kisna Prado joined the READi Lab to work on the Screen-Refer-Treat (SRT) and Pathways studies. A Southern California native, she graduated from UC Davis in June 2017 with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and a minor in Chicano/a Studies. Previously, she conducted community-based research and assisted in providing free primary care, dental, and mental health services to the Hispanic, rural, farm-working community of Knights Landing, CA. Kisna has a passion for community engagement work and research that focuses on utilizing preventative or early intervention measures to improve mental health and overall health outcomes. We are so excited to welcome her to our team!