Autistic people are not a disease. Autistic people have fundamentally shaped our world, an incredibly net positive community. To condemn the existence of any autistic person is unacceptable. Autism is an inherent part of our culture and history, and it always will be.

🆘 'Tis the season of prepping RPPR docs, Loan Repayment renewal application, and multiple IRB submissions. at the same time. bleh.

What do you want to know?.

🆘 Autistic adolescents & young adults needed for a new study!. We aim to study the experiences of autistic & gender diverse young people through online surveys and interviews. Study flyer below and link to register!. Link: Please RT to spread the word!

📣 Autistic adult volunteers needed for a brief online anonymous research study!. This dissertation project is led by a new doctoral student in our lab this year, Lauren Bacchus, and she's hoping to recruit participants!. Flyer below with info and reposts appreciated!

🎉👏My NIH Loan Repayment award was renewed today! Breathing a sigh of relief. Really grateful for this program @NIH_LRP and its incredible help in covering my loans! Highly recommend applying for this award and I’m happy to chat with anyone who has questions.

RT @ChildrensLA: Medicaid is a lifeline for so many of our patients and families. It covers infants, children, and adolescents in every cit….

Sharing fun updates from my K23 study on mental health in autistic teens! Recently, we started one-year follow-up visits & created this infographic for our families. We're still recruiting teens (14-17 y.o.) with confirmed or suspected autism in LA!.Call/text 323-207-5910

🎉 New paper!. The protocol for my K23 study on reward responsivity, depression, & broader mental health in autistic teens is published! An ongoing 5-yr project with collaborators at USC, CHLA, & Vandy. Stay tuned for updates on our work!. Link to paper:

Question for CBT providers and/or researchers:. Do you have a brief, free, and publicly available measure of clinicians' knowledge of CBT?. I'm looking for a quick way to gauge a clinician's knowledge of standard CBT for some of our ongoing work. Thank you!.

My lab received a new grant from the Southern California Center for Latino Health! 🎉. "Community-guided depression & anxiety treatment for Latino youth with intellectual & developmental disabilities". Excited to get started on this work, and more to come!.

I’m sharing some of our work . with autistic teens at #INSAR20205 today from 12:30-1:30pm!. 418.047 - Disclosure of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Self-Harm in Autistic Adolescents from Adolescent and Parent Perspectives: A Mixed-Methods Investigation. Swing by & say hi! 👋.

Looking forward to presenting tomorrow as a panelist at the #INSAR2025 Community Conference!. “Taking Care of Each Other – Creating Systems of Care” tomorrow from 12-4:30pm at the Seattle Convention Center! Open to all!. Link to event:

Looking forward to attending and presenting at #INSAR2025 in Seattle this week! . Happy to be with fellow autism researchers amidst an incredibly challenging time in science and autism research in the U.S.

RT @KellyannNavarre: Join our #SRS25 symposium tmrw 2 PM EST: "Leveraging Qualitative Methods to Advance Suicide Prevention in Under-Resear….

At the Gatlinburg Conference all week in San Diego! ☀️ I'm excited to connect with colleagues, attend my husband's panels, and support several of my lab members in presenting their research!.

It’s autism acceptance month!. Autistic people have fundamentally improved my life both personally and professionally in countless ways! I’m so grateful to work with, have friends, and connect with family in this community!.

RT @PittREAACT: This #AutismAcceptanceMonth, we want to highlight all of the wonderful resources that are always available on our website:….

Many thanks to the international autistic youth and adults for their participation in this work!. And to our collaborative teams.@Enhance_Lab_UC @CarlyMcMorris @QuantPsychiatry & Darren Hedley, Claire Brown, Mirko Uljarevic, Julian Trollor & Mark Stokes.

What does this mean?.Autistic people across age groups constitute a high-priority group for suicide prevention!. Appropriate assessments & evaluation of system-level programs that effectively address the problem of preventable death by suicide in this community are essential.

Limitations:.Pooled sampling across different groups complicate the generalizability and implications of this work. Sample enriched for STB and mental health needs. Not representative of all autistic people and their families, among other limitations (see paper).