Intellectual and Developmental Disability News

Brian Boyd, director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the KU Life Span Institute, was invited by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, to join an advisory meeting on May 18th to discuss recommendations for new resources for Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children. 

LAWRENCE - The Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training, part of the University of Kansas Life Span Institute, will host the conference Autism Across the Life Span on April 23. The virtual event will address the needs of families, professionals, and educators interested in autism spectrum disorder. The one-day event will feature 16 breakout sessions on behavioral health, interventions, research and neuroscience, and transition.

LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Life Span Institute is partnering with the Baylor College of Medicine to host the 54th annual Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities from April 5 to April 8, 2021. 

Researchers at the University of Kansas have launched a study to test the outcomes of a career design model, delivered virtually, that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to set and work toward self-determined career goals. Testing the delivery of self-determination interventions via telehealth is timely not only because of the pandemic but also because it extends delivery options in rural areas.

Richard L. (Dick) Schiefelbusch, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, longtime director of the Bureau of Child Research, and namesake of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, has died at age 102. 

University of Kansas researchers, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina, have secured a new grant to test the combination of two interventions designed to help students with autism spectrum disorder boost educational achievement and improve their transition to life after school.

A new paper in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical from researchers at the University of Kansas reveals a possible early indicator of Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, or FXTAS.

When COVID-19 prompted the closure of the University of Kansas campus, Dana Lattin had faith that students in KU Transition to Postsecondary Education, or TPE, could adapt to their new online experiences. 

Assistant Research Professor Kathryn Unruh has received the inaugural Stephen and Carolyn Schroeder Young Investigator Award for Research in Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Established by the former Life Span Institute director and his wife, the $10,000 award is intended for Life Span Institute-affiliated early-career investigators, post-docs, and graduate students whose work involves biobehavioral approaches to neurodevelopment.