Leadership
- Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy
- Director, Jefferson Autism Center of Excellence
- Professor, Farber Institute for Neurosciences
130 South 9th Street
6th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Helping Kids Thrive with Occupational Therapy using Ayres Sensory Integration Webinar
The mission of the NJACE is to educate society about the neurobiology of autism, and autistic people‘s unmet needs across their lifespan. We do this by listening to the perspectives of autistic people, their parents and families, clinicians from interdisciplinary fields, and researchers from various fields including psychology, genetics, engineering, and computer science. We hope to build an all-inclusive community, which embraces autistic people as valued members of our society.
Project Justice
Jefferson Autism Center of Excellence is supporting an initiative of the Autism Services, Education, Resources, and Training Collaborative (ASERT) to provide evidence-based strategies and information to address the needs of individuals with ASD. In this project we are working with ASERT to provide justice professionals (i.e., police officers, EMTs, fire fighters, shelter staff, etc.) with knowledge about the sensory aspects of ASD to inform their work. We created information sheets about the sensory systems and how they might impact behaviors with individuals in the various environments where Justice Professions may interact with them (i.e. give examples here). We also made suggestions for evidence-based strategies for justice professionals to implement as needed for individuals with ASD with sensory challenges and common items (sensory toolkit) they may want to have on hand to help manage these sensory challenges (tool kit items may include: visual supports, preferred objects, phone to play a preferred song or music on repeat for comfort, etc.).
Occupational Therapy Using Ayres Sensory Integration® Parent Education Guidebook
A Synopsis of Sensory Integration
Occupational Therapy Using Ayres Sensory Integration® Parent Education Guidebook
An educational Occupational Therapy guidebook for parents using Ayres Sensory Integration.
Vision Clinic Resources
An autism-friendly vision clinic is essential for providing comprehensive eye care for those on the autism spectrum by providing an environment conducive to a successful vision exam and allowing the individual to feel comfortable, safe, and respected. The resources below guide clinicians through identifying a child’s unique sensory needs and preferences, selecting appropriate sensory strategies accordingly, and implementing those strategies throughout the vision exam.
Vaccine Clinic Resources
An autism-friendly vaccine clinic is essential for providing vaccines for those on the autism spectrum by providing an environment conducive to successfully administering a vaccine and allowing the individual to feel comfortable, safe, and respected. The resources below guide clinicians through identifying a child’s unique sensory needs and preferences, selecting appropriate sensory strategies accordingly, and implementing those strategies throughout the process of administering the vaccine.
Testing Design Thinking Methodology to Engage Hispanic & Latino Families of Autistic Children in Research
This project seeks to engage diverse stakeholders, including parents of autistic children, autism experts, and autistic adults throughout the project with the purpose of:
Testing two stakeholder engagement methods: focus groups and design thinking
Learning about the challenges in therapy access parents/caregivers of autistic children and autistic adults have experienced.
Culturally adapting the evidence-based occupational therapy intervention Ayres sensory integration intervention for the Hispanic and Latino population.
- A feasibility trial will be conducted in the second phase of this project to test the culturally adapted manual.