Our vision is to become an International Centre of Excellence for Autism Education, Research and Development

Current research participation invitations

How do autistic and neurotypical children learn words? +

My name is Sophie Lund, and I am a PhD student in Psychology at Lancaster University. I would like to invite your child to participate in a research project investigating how neurotypical children and autistic children learn new words. This research will investigate how children’s word learning is affected by features of their environment. Studying why so many autistic children struggle to learn words is necessary to inform the design of effective educational interventions.

Children’s participation in the project will involve playing simple and fun games. Using a touch screen computer, children will be taught the names of unfamiliar objects, and after a 5-minute break, we will assess whether they can remember the names correctly.

Full Family Information Pack

If you would like to ask any questions regarding this study, please feel free to contact the researcher directly – Sophie Lund (s.lund1@lancaster.ac.uk                       )

Involving children and young people with learning disabilities and their parents and carers in research (University of Liverpool)+

• Names of research team members: Dr Leanne Burton and Miss Abbie Wall
• Principal Investigator: Dr Leanne Burton – 0151 795 7737

The aim of the project is to explore the best ways to engage children and young people with learning disabilities in research. This is an opportunity to shape a wider research study looking at how we can support children and young people who have a learning disability and their parents/carers to tackle overweight and obesity. We hope that your support of this project will help the research tem to understand the best language to use and what might encourage people to get involved in this research.

Full Family Information Pack
Easy Read Information Pack
Ethical approval of the project

The results from this project will help researchers from the University of Liverpool to shape the design of a wider research study based on what parents/carers and children and young people want the research to look like and what will help them best to be involved in the study.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Inclusive and accessible PE for autistic students (University of Durham)+

Are you a parent or caregiver of an autistic young person? Do you think PE could be more accessible for them?

 

We are currently running a questionnaire study focusing on the experience of PE for autistic 11–17-year-olds which includes some questions for their parent or caregiver.

 

We aim to understand the sensory and anxiety barriers and facilitators to PE and potential preferences for physical activities. We hope this will inform PE provision to be more inclusive and accessible for autistic students.

 

See the poster for more information or contact dora.sadler@durham.ac.uk

 

To head directly to the questionnaire, click https://durhampsychology.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1CgueTctpTQvqvk

If you are developing a research project and would like to contact Abbot’s Lea School for participation we ask that you send a formal summary of your research project, ethics committee approval and a risk assessment for your direct work with the students.

DBS will be essential if you were to work directly with the students and we would require a confirmation of your compliance with the safeguarding standards. Communication with the families would come from the school, including information about the project and any publication of its findings.

Please contact Dr Sara Muršić, Head of Autism Research and Development for more information: sara.mursic@abbotsleaschool.co.uk