Autism research

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Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering whether it is okay for me to post the link to a current research study interested in the experiences of parents of children with Autism, or whether that would not be welcome in this forum.

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

I just recruited for a similar study (Ph.D. candidate here, just finishing up my data collection now) and people here were very helpful. I won't give you permission on their behalf, but I'll point out a few other places to try: facebook, you can start a page and try to recruit from other related pages. In yahoo groups there are a lot of groups dedicated to ASDs and related topics. Those were both great resources for me. Good luck!

Thanks Emile, appreciate your response and advice! Good luck with the rest of your Ph.D.

I have seen both successful and unsuccessful research post requests. The successful ones responded to questions about the project/questions, engaged readily in discussions about wording and research technique, respected the members, and we're not easily offended by straight forward commentary about the project. At least this is what I noticed.

A a parent of an autistic child I'm happy to participate provided your research has received the necessary ethics clearance from your research institution.

It should be ok to describe your research informally and ask if anyone is interested in participating. We haven't seen a large number of requests on this board and so aren't sick of them yet.

In my city, on the other hand, there is a university offering some sort of degree in psychology or counseling, and the candidates have to do research. They often post on a local autism e-newsletter that comes out 2-3 times a week. If I see one more request for a survey on "how autism impacts family members" from them I think I will scream! It's the lack of originality and that they aren't studying anything that I think would actually be useful for helping kids with ASD that gets to me. (Sorry if that is the topic of your research!)

What I'd really love to see is a PhD student come on here and ask for suggestions of research topics. I bet we parents could recommend a few interesting ideas! Here's mine -- someone should develop something similar to the M-CHAT, but aimed at kids who are 3-6 years old, and on the mild end of the spectrum.

Hi Zette,

There is a lot of research looking at how a child with an ASD impacts the family, I know, I have read through lots of it! I think the effects have been well established.

I completely agree, I think it's really important for research to be relevant and useful.

My research question was based from working with boys with an ASD and their parents. Some of their experiences really shocked me. In coming up with an aspect to focus my research on, I found that I was really interested in parents perception of control and how it affects their coping style and their well-being.

I am genuinely interested in what the results will reveal. I also believe they will inform my future practice as a psychologist.

Thanks for taking to time to answer the post.

Hello Andrew.

While your research question is pretty good, I'd suggest expanding to both genders just to get a more accurate analysis. Only relying on information gathered from ASD boys and their families will bring out slightly biased results.

Good luck!

Hi MakaylaTheAspie,

Sorry - I wasn't very clear, the research isn't limited to parents of boys, I just developed my interest from working with boys! Parents of girls and boys are all invited!

Thanks for your reply,

Andrew