Research Participation Opportunities

Participate in a research study about your thoughts and feelings about autism services.

They are looking for people with autism and their families to take an online survey about how you think and feel about different services you may have used. If you would like to participate, please click on the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N2LZ5J5. The survey can be completed in English, French, Italian, or German.

To thank you for taking part in this survey, you will be given the opportunity to enter your email into a drawing for one of five 100$(CAD) Amazon gift cards. Your email address will not be linked to your survey responses and they will not keep your email address after the drawing has been completed – it is only going to be used to select gift card winners.

The aViation study will test an investigational medicine for ‘high-functioning’ autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The investigational study drug blocks a hormone receptor in the brain that is linked to the control of socialization, stress, anxiety and aggression.

Participation lasts for up to 39 weeks. For 24 of those weeks, participants will take daily doses of either the investigational study drug or a placebo (a look-alike) that contains no medicine. Both the investigational study drug and the placebo are small tablets that can be swallowed whole or dissolved in liquid.

Participants and their parent or guardian will visit a study clinic at OSU in Columbus around once every 6 weeks (about 7 times in total). This will allow the study team to assess their general health, social communication skills and social interaction skills.

Please be reassured that participants would not have to pay for any study-related treatments, lab tests or assessments. Also, reimbursement for travel is available.

The Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institution is looking for high-functioning individuals age 21 and over with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as healthy volunteers to participate in a research study. They are looking at how to improve communication and social skills by training people to imagine themselves participating in social tasks.

As a volunteer for the study, you will complete some questionnaires and tasks to get an idea of your baseline functioning, including some autism specific tests, EEGs, and MRI. These will be repeated after training to see if there was any change as a result of the training. Next, you will participate in six brain-training sessions at NASA Glenn Research Center. There, they have a room designed for virtual reality experiences that make you feel like you’re entirely surrounded/involved in the activities you’re watching (called the GRUVE lab). You can read about the GRUVE lab here.

During several training sessions, they will record your brain activity by placing a cap on your head that picks up brain waves (called an EEG). Your brain activity will also be evaluated before and after training using MRI, a completely painless imaging machine that lets them see how your brain is working while you’re performing certain tasks.

University Hospitals Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists:
Dr. John Hertzer
Dr. Molly McVoy
Dr. Nora McNamara
Dr. Marcie Hall
Ph: 216-844-3881

University Hospitals Adult Psychiatrist
Dr. Stephen Ruedrich
Ph: 216-844-2400

In addition to seeing patients, doctors in the center perform educational outreach by going out into the community and giving talks about different psychiatric disorders including autism.

For more information about their current autism study, read this brochure.

Parents and grandparents are invited to attend an evening educational program about creative ways to help the child with ASD. (Ages 3 to 16). The program is sponsored by the Case Western Reserve University Autism Center. The project involves:
· Participation in a 60 to 90-minute educational session
· Resource materials to take home related to ASD
· Completion of two surveys
· Receive a $20 gift card for completing each survey ($40 total)
· Refreshments will be served.
· Parking is FREE

Dates: Sunday, February 11th @ 3:00 pm Or Tuesday, February 21st @ 6:30 pm
Shaker Heights Public Library, Room G
16500 Van Aken Blvd. Shaker Heights, OH 44120

Registration is requested to the contact listed below.

Dr. Ruth Milanaik is a developmental pediatrician at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York. She is asking your assistance with an important research study related to gender identity development in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In order to examine the impact of gender identity development in children and adolescents with ASD on social relationships, researchers at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York have devised a short anonymous questionnaire for parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Your responses to this questionnaire are instrumental to better understanding how gender identity develops in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and help us to better assist individuals with ASD who may have gender-related concerns and their families.

You will find a link to a short, completely anonymous and confidential questionnaire below. It takes 10-15 minutes to complete this questionnaire, and completion is voluntary.

Link to the Questionnaire

This guide explains to people with disabilities how they can participate in research and training projects. It describes what research and training is and what a participant can do. It also provides examples of projects and of ways to address problems others have had when working on research and training.

National site with information and research findings about autism. Members can participate in research studies being conducted around the country.

KidsFirst is recruiting parents of children (all ages) diagnosed with autism to enroll in a research registry aimed at identifying similarities across children and establishing behavioral classification to better understand autism. At enrollment, they ask parents to answer a ten-minute survey which will guide future requests for information, such as more targeted follow up questions and possible genetic sampling.

The information you provide will help them translate findings into targeted approaches for therapy, care, and intervention. All information gathered will be strictly confidential, anonymized, and encrypted in our HIPAA-compliant repository.

There is no cost to participate and all correspondence is through the registry, email, and telephone. There are no in-person appointments. The International Center for Autism Research and Education (ICARE) at Case Western Reserve University is partnered with the Hartwell Foundation and Stanford University to establish Northeast Ohio as a site in the KidsFirst Research Registry.

The Neurodevelopment Research Lab at CWRU is conducting a study to better understand play, social ability, and parent-child interactions in relation to hormones expressed during social engagement and telehealth parent-training intervention.

They are looking for children ages 3-6 years old who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

This is a baseline study visit where your child will undergo measures of play and social ability and their saliva will be collected to measure hormone levels. Then, parent and child will undergo an 8-week remote intervention program targeting play,
emotion regulation, parent and peer engagement and social ability. Participants will return for a post-intervention visit similar to the baseline visit.

Baseline and post-intervention visits can occur at: (1) your home/surrounding area or (2) our research lab on CWRU’s campus
If you are interested in participating, please contact our research team at neurodevelopmentresearchlab@gmail.com or (216) 368—0112 to schedule a research visit or to receive more information!

University Hospitals Case Medical Center is currently conducting a research study for Males between the ages of 18–45 with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of an investigational medication compared with placebo in treating social communication deficits. Participants must have a caregiver who can oversee compliance and participation for the duration of the study.

For more information, please call (216) 844-3922.

Providing care to adolescents and adults with ASD can be especially difficult for families due to changes in the physical and emotional maturity of the individual with ASD, shifts in social roles, and shifts in family roles and relationships as parents age. Moreover, such difficulties often compound a long history of financial, social, and psychological stressors faced by these families. Of particular concern to families are problems faced by young adults with ASD as they transition out of the educational system.

This research study is a needs assessment in-person survey of 150-200 family caregivers of adolescents and young adults (16 to 30 yrs.) with ASD living in a mid-sized midwestern city (Cleveland, Ohio). Eligible participants must be the primary family caregiver (e.g., parent, grandparent, guardian) to an adolescent/young adult age 16 to 30 diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Contact Dr. Biegel if you are interested in participating.
Participants will receive a Visa gift card for their participation.

Does your child suffer from sleep problems?

Parents will be randomly assigned to a comprehensive parent training targeting sleep (SPT) or a parent education program families find useful with one session on sleep (SPE).

As part of the study you will be asked to complete questionnaires, document your child’s sleep habits and attend telehealthsessions with an expert in autism. The possible benefits of participation in this study are the improvement of your child’s sleep and bedtime behaviors. The study will be delivered via telehealth so families do not have to travel.

To be eligible to participate:
• Your child must be between 2 and less than 7 years of age
• Your child must have a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Your child must have a significant sleep disturbance

Contact the principal investigator if you are interested.