Vision

• Promote access to equitable and inclusive opportunities for neurodivergent and autistic individuals through understanding and specialized supports
• Contextualize disability from a neurodiversity perspective 
• Investigate intersections of autism and other identities, such as gender, class, race/ethnicities, and sexuality
• Take a strength-focused approach to providing universally designed supports and remove socially constructed barriers to enhance quality of life 
• Build education to employment pipelines
• Foster self-awareness, self-efficacy, and self-esteem

Goals

(1) PROMOTE PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH

• Include the voices of neurodivergent and autistic individuals from across the lifespan as co-researchers 
• Establish a community forum featuring research by neurodivergent and autistic scholars and their allies
• Encourage researchers to use participatory research methods through synchronous and asynchronous sharing of resources and recommended practices
• Highlight participatory scholarly research that has the potential to impact policy and practice

(2) CONDUCT RESEARCH TO INFORM PRACTICE

• Foster conversations around research that aims to identify and address research to practice gaps around neurodiversity and autism
• Learn from the voices of various stakeholders (including autistic individuals, families, professionals, employers, and community members) to better understand the needs in the field
• Conduct neurodiversity and autism focused research that seeks to improve the well-being of autistic and neurodiverse people as defined by them 
• Promote intervention research that is applicable to home, school, work and community settings 

Neurodiversity and Autism Research in Education (NAREC)

A Subcommittee of SIG #113

The Neurodiversity and Autism Research in Education Committee (NAREC) are enthusiastically planning  Zoom meetings for the upcoming academic year. At each meeting, we aim to focus on our vision and one of our committee goals.

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

 Meetings for the 2025-26 Academic Year TBA! Stay tuned!

Interested in staying in the loop to receive information about upcoming events? Please fill out this brief Google Form to make sure you don’t miss an event.

PRIOR MEETINGS:

Monday, June 17 2024

• During this session, we were joined by Dr. Rebecca Wood, a Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education at the University of Glasgow who shared with us findings from the Autistic School Staff Project, a study that ran from 2019-2023 that explored the experiences, strengths and needs of autistic educators in a range of roles in the United Kingdom, Poland, and the United States. 

Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023 4pm PT / 7pm ET 

• During this session, the NAREC Leadership Committee explored the intricate aspects of neurodiversity, clarifying its distinctions from autism and tracking its evolving definitions
• Our panel of NAREC neurodivergent and allistic experts shared personal examples of how we incorporate a neurodiversity perspective to shape our research inquiries, build our research teams, and enhance the design of our studies

Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023, at 4pm PT / 7pm ET 

Wednesday September 20, 2022 4pm PST/ 7pm EST.

• In this meeting we were joined by Dr. Brett Ranon Nachman, an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas. Brett shared his research around disability, autism and higher education.
• Participants were engaged in research findings and supported discussion and provided with take-away strategies to elevate autistic college student self-advocacy.  Thank you Dr. Nachman.

Wednesday June 1, 2022 4pm PST/ 7pm EST.

• In this meeting we were joined by Dr. Patty Douglas, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Brandon University, Manitoba. Thank you to Dr. Douglas for sharing with us her work via an engaging presentation entitled, Re-storying Autism at the Intersections: A Multimedia Storytelling Project.

Wednesday November 10, 2021 4pm PST/ 7pm EST. 

• In this meeting we were joined by Dr. Vikram Jaswal, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia, for a follow-up discussion of themes raised in his recent presentation at the  UC Davis Neurodiversity Summit.

Wednesday June 16, 2021 3pm PST/ 6pm EST

• This meeting was a discussion style workshop in which members shared neurodiversity initiatives emrging within their K-12+ education settings.
• Thank you participating committee members, for providing rich discussion points and ideas for supporting neurodivergent students and staff in our educational settings.

Wednesday February 15, 2021 4pm PST/ 7pm EST

• This meeting will include small group networking and a Jamboard activity where we will engage with one another around our research interests. We plan to brainstorm topics of themes for further engagement and to share thoughts around the state of autism research in educational contexts. We value your input and hope you will plan to join us.

Wednesday October 28, 2020 3pm EST

• During this meeting, we  focused on the committee's fourth goal; working together across research methodologies.
• Thank you to Elizabeth Torres, Director of the NJ Autism Center of Excellence for sharing her transformative research emphasizing the motor aspects of autism and removing barriers to understanding delayed neurodevelopment.

Wednesday February 5th 2020 3pm EST 

• During this meeting we focused on the committee's second goal; promoting access to equitable opportunities.
• Thank you Dr. Edlyn Pena (California Lutheran University) for sharing impactful research and experiences working with individuals who use methods other than speech to communicate. 

Wednesday October 2019  3pm EST  

• During this meeting, we focused on the committee's first goal; collaboration through participatory research
• Thank you to Dr.  Heather Brown (University of Alberta) for sparking an impactful discussion on participatory research and neurodiversity during our October 2019 meeting. 

Chair:

Dr. Matthew C. Zajic is an Assistant Professor of Intellectual Disability/Autism in the Health Studies & Applied Educational Psychology Department at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research adopts interdisciplinary theories and methodologies from autism, writing, and literacy research to understand and support the writing development of autistic individuals across contexts throughout the lifespan. More broadly, he is interested in effective literacy practices for neurodivergent learners as well as the use of psychometrics, assessment, and quantitative methods in supporting the literacy abilities of neurodivergent learners. He teaches courses on assessment and evaluation in special education, writing development and instruction, and language and literacy development across neurodiverse learners. He completed a predoctoral fellowship in psychometrics and assessment of special populations, a postdoctoral fellowship in autism and education, and an advanced training fellowship in applied mixture modeling.

Email: mcz2114@tc.columbia.eduWebsite: https://www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/mcz2114/ 

Co-Chair:

Dr. Heather M. Brown was initially trained as an elementary school teacher but is now an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She is also an Autistic researcher passionate about supporting the academic achievement and overall well-being of Autistic children, youth and adults. Her research approach is community-based and participatory, empowering Autistic individuals to embrace their neurodiversity confidently and aims to understand the factors that most support their well-being at home, work and school. She currently serves as the director of the Autism, Neurodiversity and Academic Achievement (AIDAN) Lab.

Email: heather2@ualberta.ca

Websites: https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/heather2

https://www.aidanlab.ca/

Secretary/Treasurer:

OPEN - To be filled in 2025!

Committee Officers:

Dr. Kristie Asaro-Saddler is an Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and the Division of Educational Psychology and Methodology at the University at Albany. Her research focuses on writing instruction and support for autistic students, with a focus on the self-regulatory components of writing, and supporting autistic people and their families from under-represented areas of the world.  She has numerous publications in autism, special education and writing journals and has presented her works at international, national and regional conferences. She teaches courses on autism and effective practices for teachers of students with disabilities. Prior to joining the faculty at the University at Albany she was a special education teacher for children with autism and developmental disabilities.  

Email: ksaddler@albany.edu

Website: https://www.albany.edu/education/faculty/kristie-asaro-saddler

Dr. Amy Accardo is the founding director of the Center for Neurodiversity at Rowan University and an associate professor and co-chair of the Wellness and Inclusive Services in Education Department. Amy presently serves as a Principal Investigator of the Learning Resource Center- South. Her scholarly activities focus on promoting equitable education opportunities for autistic students and working with neurodiverse students, teachers, faculty, and staff to implement inclusive pedagogy and practices. She has published numerous articles and presents in person nationally on neurodiversity, autism and topics including college access, literacy, teacher preparation and mental health. Amy holds a master’s degree from Drexel University and a doctoral degree in special education from Arcadia University. She is co-author of the book College Success for Students on the Autism Spectrum: A Neurodiversity Perspective.

Email: Accardo@rowan.edu

Website: https://education.rowan.edu/contactus/accardo-amy.html

Graduate Student Chairs:

OPEN - To be filled in 2025!