The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $154,880 Project Grant (CFDA 93.865 - Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research) to the University of Colorado-Denver to study the effects of exercise on neurobiology, social cognition, and systemic inflammation in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The 2-year project aims to determine if a 10-week exercise intervention can 1) enhance brain response in default mode network regions during a...
This federal Project Grant award, valued at $763,171.00, was provided by the Defense Health Agency under the Military Medical Research and Development (CFDA 12.420) program. The grant supports a pilot clinical trial of an app-based motor skills intervention for reducing motor difficulties in autistic children. The key activities under this grant include adapting and beta testing the PLAY app for autistic preschool children from diverse backgrounds, and conducting a pilot randomized controlled...
This federal Project Grant award of $242,290, provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), aims to develop a measure to assess the fidelity of neurodiversity-affirming interventions (NAIs) for autistic individuals. The goal is to leverage qualitative interviews with autistic individuals and caregivers to establish a pool of items indicating the...
This Project Grant award of $1,800,000 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Department of Health and Human Services supports the "Transition for Youth with Autism and/or Epilepsy Demonstration Projects" under the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support (CARES) Act Program (CFDA 93.877). The funding aims to improve transition outcomes for youth with autism in Wisconsin by implementing and evaluating innovative, sustainable, and scalable...
This $340,604 federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) will fund the development, refinement, and psychometric evaluation of four Autism Gastrointestinal and Related Behaviors Inventory (GIRBI) questionnaires. The GIRBI questionnaires, including self-report and parent-report versions for both pediatric and adult populations, aim to provide comprehensive...
This Project Grant award from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (CFDA 93.837 - Cardiovascular Diseases Research) provides $1,970,848 to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to evaluate the efficacy of a digital intervention to increase physical activity and improve physical fitness in youth with the Fontan circulation. The study involves a randomized controlled trial with three specific aims: 1) Determine if the multi-component digital intervention increases physical activity...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (CFDA 93.865 - Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research) provides $681,469 to the University of Pittsburgh to conduct a mixed-methods study investigating the relationships between provider bias, experiences of ableism, and health outcomes for people with mobility disabilities. The project aims to prospectively assess the explicit and implicit disability biases of 40 rehabilitation...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), will fund the development and commercialization of the Fast In-Bed Tracking (FIT) platform. FIT is an e-health and wellness Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring system that can be integrated into a user's bed to provide real-world outcomes supporting the health and wellness of wheelchair users. The $987,365...
This Project Grant award of $431,750.00, provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), aims to develop algorithms for predicting behavioral outbursts in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using wearable biosensor data and advanced machine learning models. The key objectives of this 2-year award are to: 1) collect a novel dataset of physiological and movement...
This $769,284 project grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health will fund the development of new quantitative autism severity scores from existing instruments at John Carroll University from June 2022 through June 2025. Under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242), the awardee will utilize multiple large datasets to apply modern psychometric approaches and create regression-adjusted, normative Social Responsiveness Scale-2 and Autism...
This federal Project Grant award of $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) under the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support (CARES) Act Program (CFDA 93.877) will support the development of an updated version of the FitnessGram physical fitness test battery that is inclusive of students with autism and other developmental disabilities (autism/DD).
The 3-year project, titled "The FitnessGram for All Initiative," aims to: 1) determine the measurement properties (reliability, validity, feasibility) of fitness test scores for students with autism/DD; 2) identify facilitators and barriers to implementing equitable fitness assessments; and 3) develop representative norms and criterion-referenced standards for fitness test items tailored to this population. This work will directly address health equity for students with autism/DD by creating an evidence-based, inclusive physical fitness assessment that can inform health interventions and research.