News

Grandparents—they’re the ones to embrace you in warm bear hugs, sneak you a freshly baked cookie before the big Thanksgiving meal, and at SARRC, they have become our most dependable group of volunteers and autism advocates.

This October marks the 18th anniversary of our Grandparents Support Group. The group started in 2002 as a place for grandparents to come together, learn about autism and how to best help their children and grandchildren on their autism journeys. 

My sister Zara and I are proud to have advocated for bringing Sibshops to SARRC in 2020. I am currently a freshman in high school, and Zara is in sixth grade. Our younger brother, Euan, is 9 years old and was diagnosed with autism four years ago. As siblings to a brother with autism, Zara and I are constantly finding our place and adjusting to everything that happens to Euan. 

School in 2020 looks different for students across the nation. While a new school year is always about change—new teachers, new classrooms, new friends—2020 brings the uncertainty of virtual or in-person learning (or a combination of both), masks, social distancing, handwashing, and more.

Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center is pleased to announce the election of Julie Alpert to its board of directors.

By Mathilde Rispoli

I remember the first time I walked into SARRC, I was in the waiting room, waiting with my leg bouncing up and down. I was nervously thinking about what my first volunteer session as a Peer Mentor in the CommunityWorks program would be like. My only experience with autism was through stories my mom had told me about her time as a teacher in a self-contained classroom. 

Marisa Carroll is a Senior Behavior Therapist at Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC). She has been with SARRC for three years working within the Community School, an inclusive preschool program that provides high-quality early childhood education and ABA-based programming for children with autism and their typically developing peers.

Recently, a SARRC clinical supervisor posted this picture to her Instagram. Of all the videos, images, and memes I’ve seen since we were first hit with COVID-19, this one is by far my favorite.

Many people with autism struggle immensely with even the smallest disruptions in their routines. Parents often learn the hard way to take the very same route to school each day, or that their child will eat only one brand of chicken nuggets, or that the 43 stuffed animals on their child’s bed must be put in the exact same place every day. 

By Christopher J. Smith, Ph.D., SARRC vice president & research director

Background: In 2019, autism researchers from the Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Western Australia called for the term “high-functioning autism” to be
abandoned because of the misleading and potentially harmful expectations it creates around the abilities of children on the autism spectrum.

What is “functioning,” anyway?