Federal Grant Award Summary

Drexel University received a $594,637 Project Grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), awarded March 1, 2026, with a completion date of February 28, 2031. The grant funds the development and validation of the C-SCAN (Communication Strengths, Challenges, and Nuances), a comprehensive, multi-dimensional communication measure specifically designed for autistic adults. This represents a significant gap-filling effort, as no validated communication assessment tool currently exists for this population despite widespread communication difficulties among autistic individuals.

The project deliverables include two versions of the C-SCAN instrument developed through community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology: a self-report measure for autistic adults (Aim 1) and a proxy-reporter version for support persons assisting individuals unable to complete the self-report measure independently (Aim 2). Both instruments will be created using COSMIN (Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments) standards and refined through five rounds of a CBPR-nested Delphi process involving autistic adults and proxy reporters as co-researchers. The resulting assessment tools are designed to generate communication ability profiles, maximize accessibility for the target population, and be inclusive across the entire autism spectrum, ultimately enabling improved understanding of communication outcomes related to employment, health, and relationships in autistic populations.