Research Studies

As of December 13, 2006, research studies will be removed from this page approximately two years after being posted, unless a different timeframe is specified. Researchers are strongly advised to contact us with new information about their studies periodically.

Click here to Submit a Research Study.

The Family Experiences with Autism Spectrum Disorders (FEASD) Scale - The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of primary caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Added 4/29/13

Research Study for Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Teens Needed - An MRI research study to compare the brains of adolescents boys ages 13 to 17 with ASDs, with the brains of healthy typically developing boys.
Added 4/29/13

Sexual Citizenship on the Autism Spectrum - Recruiting participants for a study on sexuality in the lives of Autistic adults living in the US. Participants receive a $25 gift card after completing a brief online survey and online interview.
Added 2/25/13

Sociomoral Thinking and the Transition to Adulthood - Young adults aged 18-27 and diagnosed with a high functioning autism spectrum disorder are invited to participate in a research study examining sociomoral thinking and the transition to adulthood.
Added 1/7/13

Stakeholders' Project on Neuropsychological Report Writing - Patient and Family Survey - The goal is to understand how neuropsychologists can improve our report formats to make them maximally useful to patients, families, and physicians.
Added 12/17/12

Measuring Autism Potential: Research on Autism and Developmental Disorders - Wwe are exploring how children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have very limited verbal skills process language, and how their potential for understanding speech can be reliably measured.
Added 12/5/12

The VIP Project: Videos of Important People - Researchers at Boston University are looking for teens ages 12-17 with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to test a new social intervention. Teens will make videos of their friendships for 3 weeks and meet weekly with our research staff for a total of 7 weeks.
Added 10/31/12

Identifying Factors Impacting the Informal Education Learning Experience for Young Autistic Students - Phase one of this three-phase research study aims to collect as many perspectives as possible based on three questions relating to the learning experience, via on-line bulletin walls.
Added 10/1/12

Asperger and High Functioning Autism Employment Study - We are asking if you would like to participate in a research study. This study is for adults 18 years and older, who have a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome (AS) or high functioning autism (HFA), and have had at least one paid job.
Added 9/24/12

Targeted Pharmacologic Interventions for Autism - A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Atomoxetine in Children and Adolescents with Autism
Added 9/19/12

A study to assess the role of a gluten free-casein free diet in the dietary management of autism associated gastrointestinal disorders - 14-week study that requires between 5-9 office visits. To take part in this research study, your child would need to follow the GFCF diet for 12 weeks. A dietitian will be available to teach you and your child about the GFCF diet.
Added 9/12/12

Risk and Protective Factors Predicting Emotionality and Emotional Intelligence among Adolescent Siblings of Individuals with and without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities - This study examines how parent and child factors interact to predict positive outcomes for typically-developing siblings of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Added 9/12/12

Autism Spectrum Disorder Healthcare Study - If you live in Maine and are a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), parent or caregiver of a child with an ASD or medical professional who treats patients with ASD, we want to hear from you.
Added 9/10/12

Autism, Asperger's, and Roleplaying - We are researching the habits, attitudes, experiences, and behavior of Autistic roleplayers compared to the habits, attitudes, experiences, and behavior of non-Autistic roleplayers.
Added 9/5/12

Family patterns in diagnosis of children with ASD - Gain a better understanding of the factors that influence the timing of diagnoses in individuals with autism spectrum conditions.
Added 9/5/12

Focus of Attention - Seeking typically developing children (ages 3-8), and children and adolescents (ages 7-21) who "over-focus," with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, or Down syndrome.
Added 9/5/12

Foundations of Learning in Children with and without Developmental Disabilities - a research study whose purpose is to develop and/or improve on educational procedures for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Updated 9/5/12

A Look into the Lived Experiences of College Students with Aspergers Disorder - Josh Lafortune of Antioch University New England wishes to interview college students with Aspergers to learn about their experiences in middle school and high school.
Added 8/6/12

Exploring Neurotypical-Asperger Romantic Relationships - Dr Lisa Abel & Dr Rebekah Doley from Bond University (Australia) are conducting research into the relationship experiences of both partners within neurotypical – Asperger relationship dyads. Specifically, the aim of the research is to investigate the extent to which each partner perceives there to be a match between their expectations about how relationships function and the reality of their own relationship.
Added 7/18/12

Research on Aspergers Disorder - The research involves completing an on-line survey on the characteristics of children who have Asperger's Disorder or High Functioning Autism. Participants will be paid.
Added 6/20/12

Siblings of Youth with an ASD - Researcher at Boston University want to understand the experiences of siblings during adolescence. We are looking for siblings between the ages of 10-17. We will lend siblings a video camera for 2 weeks to document their experiences.
Added 6/6/12

Behavioral Testing at MIT - We are inviting 18-30 year olds with ASD to come for one or more visits at our lab at MIT. They will be asked to participate in behavioral testing (interviews, questionnaires, computer tasks, puzzles), and be asked to watch movies and complete tasks in the MRI scanner.
Added 6/6/12

TMS studies in Children with ASD - The purpose of this study is to investigate brain plasticity in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Updated 5/30/12

Novel Intervention Study - You and your child are invited to participate in a research study that examines how novel play interventions help children with autism spectrum disorders.
Added 5/16/12

MEG/EEG/MRI and Psychophysics Study of Developmental Disorders - Healthy Children and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Ages 6 to 14 Needed for Research Studies at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Added 4/18/12

The Ability of Autistic Children to Detect Social Emotions - We are studying how children and adolescents ith Autism Spectrum Disorders perceive social emotions in others. We are specifically interested in knowing how this ability might be different in children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder as compared to typical children.
Added 4/9/12

BILD-Brain Imaging Language Development - Researchers at MIT and Boston University are looking for children and teens to participate in a study about language.
Added 3/30/12

"Been There. Done That. Try This!" - The first book in the Aspie Mentor series by Anita Lesko.
Added 3/21/12

Making Sense of Behavior - We seek participants who are (a) age 18 or older (b) their own guardians, and (c) have previously been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Participation takes 30 minutes. $15 compensation.
Added 3/12/12

Emotional Face Processing - We are currently conducting a study in 5 and 12 year olds with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders or Asperger’s syndrome to examine the ability to process emotions in faces and to identify eye movements and brain activity associated with this ability.
Added 3/7/12

Parental Experiences Having Child With Autism - For my senior Developmental Psychology thesis at Bates College I am looking at the experiences of parents of children with autism, primarily in terms of their search and selection of a school for their child.
Added 3/5/12

Transition process for high school students with autism - How successful was the high school transition process for your child? What worked well? What was missing? For my research on Massachusetts public schools’ transition process for students with autism I want to interview families whose children left high school 1-4 years ago.
Added 3/5/12

Siblings with Special Needs Relationship Study - Students at the Yorktown High School Science Research Program would like to invite those that have a child with special needs as well as a non disabled child to be involved in their new study.
Added 12/7/11

Autism Research Study at Children's Hospital Boston - Collecting phenotypic and genetic data on children aged 24 months and up, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and their families, to better understand ASD for earlier diagnosis and better treatment.
Added 11/9/11

Autism and Religion - David Brown is gathering information re religious beliefs, attitudes and experiences of persons with autism, to complete degree and create resource for houses of worship.
Added 10/19/11

Partners Exploring Education and Recreation, mentoring for youth with Aspergers Syndrome and High functioning Autism - Partners for Youth with Disabilities, is collaborating with Tufts Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in a demonstration research project for youth with Aspergers Sydrome and High functioning Autism.
Added 10/3/11

Emotion-Based Inferences in Children with Autism - Abigail Leibovitch is conducting a study that explores how well children with autism are able to make emotion-based inferences when compared to their typically developing peers.
Added 10/3/11

Perspective-Taking and the Ability to Make Emotion-Based Inferences Among Children with High- Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders - This study is designed to look at perspective-taking skills among children with high-functioning autism-spectrum disorders.
Updated 9/14/11

Partners/MGH MRI Study in Charlestown - Asperger participants aged 16-50 are wanted for a MEG/MRI research study. The study consists of one magneto-encephalography (MEG) session lasting approximately 2 hours and one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) session of one hour.
Added 8/29/11

TRANSCEND - Our research program studies information processing and brain development in typically developing children and children diagnosed with autism. We use MEG to see how the brain responds to simple stimuli, such as sounds, words, pictures, and flashes of light.
Added 8/24/11

Smooth Sailing: The Early School Years for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders - This study, which involves assessments at UMass Boston, is designed to understand children's development during the early school years.
Added 7/29/11

Temperament-Based Parent Training for Addressing the Individual Needs of Elementary School- Aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Children without a Disability: A Comparison Study - The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of temperament- based parental approach to addressing the needs of each child.
Updated 7/27/11

Yale Child Study Center Autism Program - This study about visual attention involves using a computer, answering survey questions, and a few interviews.
Added 7/27/11

The influence of social support, bullying and social problem solving skills on mental health in autism spectrum disorders - Dr. David Hamilton and Hayley Kennedy from ACU are conducting a study investigating depression and anxiety in autism spectrum disorders.
Added 7/20/11

Computer-Mediated Desensitization of Auditory Sensitivity for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder - We have explored ways to help individuals re-contextualize offending sounds, by pairing them with rewarding, computer-mediated experiences (such as playing a video game or manipulating images of one's favorite cartoon character).
Added 7/19/11

Sensory Processing, Stimming, and Arousal in Individuals with ASD - We are looking for adolescents and adults with ASD to examine the relationships between sensory processing, stimming, and arousal. The study consists of pre and post surveys as well as one hour wearing a wrist sensor that records electrodermal activity.
Added 6/7/11

Language Acquisition in Autism Spectrum Disorders - Stephanie Afflitto, in the Lab for Developmental Studies at Harvard University under Professor Jesse Snedeker is researching language acquisition in autism spectrum disorders.  We are currently seeking participants who are between age 5 and 10 years, on the autism spectrum and have average to above average language skills.
Added 5/18/11