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VT Center for Autism Research

Merging science with service

through interventions, education, and research.

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Photo credit: Brent Clark

Tabletop with 3 sets of hands (clinicians and client) playing a puzzle game with colorful cards, a book, and crayons.
Photo credit: Brent Clark
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Welcome to the
Virginia Tech Autism Clinic & Center for Autism Research

where our mission is to improve the quality of life for autistic individuals and their families through *intervention, education, and research directed towards effective services.

 

 
We strongly support neurodiversity and acknowledge varying preferences regarding language among self-advocates within the autism and broader community.  Please let us know your preference for identity-first (i.e., "autistic individual") or person-first language (i.e., "individual with autism/ASD") when we meet.
 
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Learn about our research studies

 

We operate as a training clinic for graduate students and research is conducted through our center.  Below is an overview of our current research efforts.

Assessments and professional development for educators:  
Develop and test the feasibility of a model for autism service provision within an academic-community partnership.  VTCAR will leverage community engaged scholarship to provide essential diagnostic assessments and build local capacity of autism knowledge in southwest Virginia counties, with a focus on the Dickenson/Wise County and city of Norton catchment areas. We have hired 2 full time postdoctoral fellows/early career psychologists.  One will be housed in Clintwood, VA and the other will work remotely and in-person. They will conduct diagnostic autism assessments for school-aged children, comparing telehealth versus hybrid approaches, and also will provide virtual ECHO Autism trainings and consultations to area educators.  See the recruitment flyer below for more information.
This project is funded and supported by the following: the Rapha Foundation, an integrated internal competitive grant from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, Commonwealth Autism, 4-VA, the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, and Dickenson County Behavioral Health Services. We are grateful for their support.
Additional research areas:
- Development of a hybrid mentoring program for autistic STEM undergraduate students and establish a pipeline from-graduation-to-work with industry partners.
- EmotionAIze - Empathy-Driven Interactive Human-AI System for Countering Negative-Self Talk for Autistic Individuals
- Machine learning in AI to better understand collaboration between autistic and non-autistic individuals in the workplace
- Designing AI as a Mental Health Resource for Autistic Adults: Enhancing Therapeutic Approaches with Multimodal Interactions
- Piloting a Parenting Mobile App to Reduce Treatment-time for Families in Virginia
- Mobile Autism Clinic (MAC), one of our signature initiatives, which supports our work on accessible autism services for rural Virginians. 
 
 

SAVE-THE-DATE: Our Biennial Spring Conference will be Monday, March 24, 2025!

Our research conference is open to parents/caregivers, researchers, self-advocates, students, providers and anyone interested.  The conference is free with the option to offer a donation to support our work of merging science with service.  Registration information will be shared on our conference webpage in the next few months.

 
 

Recruiting children 17 or younger for free autism assessments!!

We are providing  diagnostic assessments to evaluate for autism in children 17 years old or younger as part of a funded research project.  Assessments will be free while funding remains available. Assessments are conducted through a combination of in-person and remote meetings or entirely remotely.  

 

Recruiting residents of Dickenson, Wise, the city of Norton, Virginia. 

 

To be added to our interest list, parents/caregivers email vtautismcenter@vt.edu with these details: your first and last name, your phone number, your email address, child's name, child's age, county of residence.  Write "Assessment Project" in the subject line.  A project team member will contact you with more information and to determine if you and your child are eligible to participate.

 

Support provided by Kelly Rose and the Dickenson County Office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

 

We are grateful to the funding provided by the Rapha Foundation, Commonwealth Autism, the Virginia Cooperative Extension and the VT College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  (Virginia Tech IRB #24-359)

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