Our compassionate and knowledgeable team is here to address your unique needs and provide the best possible care for your child’s neurodevelopmental journey.
Our compassionate and knowledgeable team is here to address your unique needs and provide the best possible care for your child’s neurodevelopmental journey.
Congratulations to Ali Cooper, senior behavior analyst at the Thompson Center, on her re-election as the president of the Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis (MOABA)! MOABA is an organization founded to support and promote scientific research on basic principles of behavior and the effective and ethical application of those principles. The organization hosts a summer workshop and an annual conference each year in pursuit of that goal. As president, Cooper’s primary responsibility is to coordinate these events in collaboration with other board members. She will continue to oversee board meetings and committees, organize conference details, and report to MOABA’s affiliate organization, ABAI.
Photo: MOABA board members at November 2023 annual conference, from left to right Sadiqa Reza (member at large), Dr. Andresa De Souza (Treasurer), Madeline Burke (Past President), John Guercio (Member at Large), Ali Cooper (President-Elect), Madison Imler (student representative), Dr. Jordan Belisle (president) and Miin An Hosic (Secretary)
All throughout the year, the Thompson Center PIQ program recognizes our team members for a professionalism, initiative, and quality (PIQ). Every fall we have the opportunity to nominate team members for Top PIQ. This year Jennifer Truelove was the Thompson Center’s Top PIQ! Jennifer received nominations from multiple divisions across the Center, highlighting the impact she has across all teams. Jennifer’s enthusiasm for our patients, joy in work, and her drive to make an impact is an incredible example for all of our team members.
A few words about Jennifer from her nominators:
Exemplifies genuine care for all patients and is a shining star for all of us with her positive approach to all situations.
Jennifer is:
Energetic
Enthusiastic
Quick to crack a joke
Hardworking
Friendly to everyone she meets
Miniature cornhole champion
Make the medical hallway festive with decorations
Held down the fort as we rebuilt our nursing team
Quick to help others (even clearing plates at employee events!)
Jen is the definition of professionalism, initiative, and quality.
She is always finding ways to make communication and service for our families better (i.e. making a genetic testing order sheet, serving families food in cerebral palsy clinic, etc.) – Initiative!
She knows our patient population best and always finds a way to meet them where they are (i.e. getting vitals even on some of the trickiest patients) – Quality!
Jen seems to be this shining light that can bring all the departments together. She makes her rounds in all hallways and departments, she knows everyone’s name and make sure we all feel like a part of the bigger picture here at the Thompson Center. Despite her YEARS of experience here she remains so humble in her role and continues to go above and beyond. – Professionalism!
Several Thompson Center researchers attended the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden in May, including Research Core staff members Julie Muckerman (left) and Samantha Hunter (right).
Research Core Manager Nicole Takahashi (left) and Dr. Kerri Nowell (right) explored Stockholm between sessions.
Dr. Sheinkopf (left) and postdoctoral researcher Erin Andres (right) were among the Thompson Center representatives to present at the INSAR meeting.
Undergraduate researchers Noura Alhachami (center) Avarind Kalathil (right) posed with MU President Mun Choi (left) at the University of Missouri’s annual Undergraduate Research Day at the Missouri State Capitol.
The Thompson Center hosted its Spring Research Symposium at the NextGen Precision Health Building in March. Speakers were Drs. Sofia Lizarraga (Brown University) and Evdokia Anagnostou (University of Toronto). A special presentation honored Dr. Judy Miles for her many years of dedication to autism research and programming in Missouri.
Individuals often begin to drink alcohol during adolescence and early adulthood. But how does this phase of life unfold for autistic teens and young adults compared with their neurotypical peers?
One study at the Thompson Center for Autism & Neurodevelopment at the University of Missouri is focused on investigating the coming of age of autistic teens, particularly in terms of substance use, mental health, and socialization.
This study is an outgrowth of the Rhode Island Consortium for Autism Research and Treatment (RI-CART), which was funded by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and led by Dr. Stephen Sheinkopf, prior to his role as executive director of the Thompson Center. The RI-CART Adolescent-Young Adult Study (RAYS) is now a collaborative effort between the Thompson Center and Brown University and is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). RAYS launched in 2021 and is jointly directed by Dr. Sheinkopf, Dr. Christina Jackson from Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, and Dr. Anthony Spirito, an expert in adolescent mental health at Brown University’s Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.
RAYS is following individuals ages 12-24 years using an accelerated longitudinal design. To do so, each participant is studied for a three-year period. Then, advanced research methods are used to compile the data and derive a pattern of what development trends look like across the full age range. RAYS is conducted 100% online using annual surveys that ask questions about the participant’s social environment, mental health, and alcohol and drug use.
The information collected in this study will help researchers begin to understand ways that alcohol use and experiences in autistic young adulthood are similar to or different from that of their typically developing peers, an area that has been the subject of very few studies in the past. Further analysis and data collection could identify additional variables that may be indicators of risk for drug or alcohol abuse or mental health problems, specifically for young adults with autism.
More than 120 autistic teens and young adults have participated in the RAYS project so far, with more than 30% enrolling through the Thompson Center. RAYS will be accepting new study participants through 2024. Eligible adolescents and young adults with a professional autism diagnosis can earn up to $395 for completing the study and their parent or caregiver can earn up to $225. Learn more about getting involved in this study and others at thompsoncenter.missouri.edu/autism-research/join-a-study/.
A proposal to build a new facility for the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment was approved by the University of Missouri Board of Curators at its meeting on February 9. The roughly 74,000 square foot building will allow us to serve even more people through our clinical services, research, and training programs. The Thompson Center expects to move into the new facility in December 2025.
Learn more in the press release from the Board of Curators here.
Several members of the Board of Curators toured the Thompson Center in Summer 2022
The Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment partnered with the Mason Eye Institute to provide vision screenings to seven children with autism. Prescription glasses were also provided at no cost to those that needed them. This event was made possible by through sponsorship from the Healthy Vision Association.
Eye exams can be particularly challenging for autistic children. The unfamiliar procedures and deviation from routine can be distressing. The sensory experience of the exam itself is unpleasant for many people, but particularly so for those with sensitivities. Providers at the Mason Eye Institute have received training through the Thompson Center’s Autism Friendly Business program which prepared them with best practices for welcoming and supporting patients with autism.
Keep an eye out for information about more events like this in the coming months!
The Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment hosted its Student Poster Session at the 17th Annual Thompson Center Autism Conference in October. The session had the most poster submissions to date as well as record-breaking attendance. There were a variety of posters showcasing the breadth of neurodevelopmental research in the fields of psychology, special education, physical therapy, social work, occupational therapy, applied behavior analysis, and educational, school, and counseling psychology. Congratulations to the following winners of this session:
1st Place: Evaluation Of A Latency-Based Competing Stimulus Assessment (LBCSA) by Madison Imler – MU Special Education ABA
Madison Imler with her research poster
A competing stimulus assessment (CSA) is used in the treatment of automatically maintained problem behavior to identify items that compete with the sensory consequences that are associated with the targeted problem behavior. This study aimed to evaluate a more efficient means of conducting a CSA by evaluating the effectiveness of a latency-based competing stimulus assessment (LBCSA). During the LBCSA, a therapist presented potential competing stimuli to the participants, and contingent on the occurrence of problem behavior the session was terminated. The primary researcher recruited three participants that attend a Midwest university-affiliated applied behavioral intervention clinic. To be included in this study, the individual had an ASD diagnosis and was referred to the study by the participant’s Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). The participants included Tucker who was a 12-year-old male that engaged in property destruction in the form of ripping, picking off, or crushing items. Tinley was a 6-year-old female that engaged in vocal stereotypy in the form of noncontextual vocalizations. Walter was a 10-year-old male who engaged in property destruction by throwing items. All sessions took place within individual rooms at the clinical facility. If the targeted problem behavior was property destruction, the session room was baited with items selected by consulting with the participant’s current clinical team. The primary dependent variables that were measured in this study were the frequency of problem behavior, latency to targeted problem behavior, and percentage of engagement with the competing stimuli. Each problem behavior was individually defined as the primary researcher consulted with the participant’s clinical team, and directly observed the targeted behavior before the start of baseline. In this study, the researchers utilized a multielement design to identify competing stimuli with short latency to disruptive behavior and competing stimuli with long latency to disruptive behavior. In addition, researchers evaluated the comparison of short-latency and long-latency items by utilizing a multielement design embedded within a reversal (ABAB) design. This study contributes to the literature by providing practitioners, educators, and staff with additional resources to further develop function-based interventions. These efficient and effective procedures also allow for behavior analysts to have a more practical and time-efficient assessment to train service providers (Luiselli et al., 2020). Overall, the use of the LBCSA increased the efficiency of the CSA and identified effective competing stimuli for the three participants that engaged in automatically maintained problem behavior. These findings suggest that using the LBCSA will improve the efficiency of conducting a CSA and make the application of the assessment more feasible for practitioners, educators, and staff members. As a result, the LBCSA will positively impact the development of effective treatments for automatically maintained problem behavior.
2nd Place: Feasibility of Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation in Youth with ASD by Roee Dar – MU School of Medicine
3rd Place: Intraindividual Variability in Subjective Sleep and Average Fatigue in Parents of Children on the Autism Spectrum by Braden Hayse – MU Clinical Psychology
Braden Hayse discussing his research with a poster session attendee
Intraindividual Variability in Subjective Sleep and Average Fatigue in Parents of Children on the Autism Spectrum Background: Fatigue is related to various adverse health outcomes. Mean levels of some common sleep variables, such as total sleep time (TST), sleep onset latency (SOL), and wake after sleep onset (WASO), have been associated with fatigue. However, intraindividual variability (IIV) of sleep parameters might play an independent role in sleep’s relationship with fatigue. Understanding fatigue is particularly important for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) given fatigue’s negative associations with positive parenting and implementation of child interventions. Objective: The objective of this preliminary study was to examine linear associations between IIV of subjective sleep parameters and mean fatigue levels in parents of children on the autism spectrum. Methods: The sample included 66 parents who expressed interest in a behavioral treatment sleep study for their school-aged children diagnosed with ASD (6-12 years old; NCT04545606). All parents (Mage=37.03, SD=6.53; 91% female) completed daily electronic diaries over a two-week baseline period. Daily fatigue rating was collected using a visual analog scale (0-100) and averaged within individuals. Within-individual standard deviations of subjective TST, SOL, and WASO were calculated to estimate IIV. Data were analyzed in R (v4.1.2) using multiple linear regression models controlling for participant age, gender, and individual respective sleep parameter means. Results: Bivariate correlations between sleep variable IIV and average fatigue indicated a positive association between TST variability and average fatigue, r(64)=0.33, p<0.01. Multiple regression analyses showed that greater IIV of TST was associated with higher average fatigue (β=0.14, 95%CI [0.01, 0.27], sr2=0.06, p=0.041). No significant associations were found between average fatigue level and IIV of WASO or SOL. Conclusion: Results suggest that greater TST variability may be one factor independently contributing to higher fatigue levels in parents of children on the autism spectrum, which warrants further examination of sleep variability and its associations in this population. Increased insight into the connection between parent fatigue and sleep might inform the importance of considering sleep interventions for both children and parents, and potential subsequent indirect treatment benefits. Future research could explore IIV of additional sleep parameters, fatigue IIV as an outcome, alternative methods of sleep measurement, and study designs that address causation.
The summer before David Beversdorf began his fellowship, he attended a workshop where one message rang clear: research should be driven by a question, not a technique. Having a clinic at his fingertips as a researcher at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment is a helpful recruitment asset in many contexts, but was not the right technique for the job when he wanted to study the effects of stress during pregnancy on microRNA biomarkers that could be used as an indicator of autism. “We already know that there is some association between prenatal stress and autism,” said Beversdorf, “but we hope to better understand the link so we can hone in on the risk factor.”
The methodology for this study involves administering surveys about stress to pregnant women and collecting saliva samples from which concentrations of microRNA can be measured. The key to accomplishing this is recruiting pregnant women, a demographic that the Thompson Center clinic does not provide services for.
“So, this research question led us to collaborate with Dr. Goodman’s clinic,” said Beversdorf, “they have the population we don’t have that’s needed to explore this question.” Dr. Jean Goodman is the Griffin Endowed Chair and Professor in the University of Missouri’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health as well as the director of MU Health Care’s Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic, which sees roughly 1,500 patients annually. This study aims to collect survey data and saliva samples from 150 participants at their second trimester ultrasound appointment during its one-year pilot phase funded by BioNexus, a private academic research partnership in Kansas City.
Dr. David Beversdorf collaborates with MU Health Care’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic as the principal investigator on the BioNexus study.
“We here at the University of Missouri – Columbia are working to improve pregnancy outcomes for our mothers and their babies,” said Dr. Goodman. “Doing so in a multidisciplinary, collaborative way – like this study – allows expertise from varied specialties to come together in a unified way with the common goal of improving maternal-child health.”
The BioNexus study is not the first time Thompson Center researchers have sought partnerships with other clinics for recruitment. The Thompson Center has been testing REACH, a mobile-based screening tool for early identification of autism, since November 2021 and will be concluding trials in October 2022. The goal is to develop a tool that families can use for at-home screening; however, in its current form, the screening tool must be administered by professionals.
This study requires a sample of children from the general population to determine the effectiveness of the app. “If kids are coming to the Thompson Center, someone is already concerned, and they’re more likely to screen positive,” said Dr. Kerri Nowell, the principal investigator on REACH at the Thompson Center. To this end, the team of researchers partnered with MU South Providence Pediatrics, which sees approximately 2,000 children ages 0-3 for well child visits annually.
Research Specialist Julie Muckerman said this partnership created a new question: “What does it look like to do a research visit at a pediatric appointment?” The answer involved collaborating with every pediatrician and resident at the clinic in order to reach the most families with information about the study. Outreach through practitioners will continue to be a key tool as REACH evolves from its current testing phase to a ready-to-use screening tool. “We want to identify high-risk kids without requiring them to come to a specialty clinic,” said Muckerman, “and one of the best ways to reach them is through their pediatrician.”
The Thompson Center will soon be bringing another study into its collaboration with the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic. The Early Years Study will be looking at characteristics of infant cry as early indicators of autism and other developmental disabilities. This study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health was brought to the Thompson Center by Dr. Stephen Sheinkopf when he became the Executive Director in September 2021.
“If we want to know about development in early infancy, we need to make contact with families early on,” Dr. Sheinkopf said, explaining the need for clinical partnership. “We don’t serve infants at the Thompson Center, yet.”
The Early Years Study is the Missouri site of this NIMH-funded study. The initial location, called the Rhode Island Neurobehavior Observation Study (RhINOS), involves a partnership between Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Brown University, and the University of Rhode Island. The methodology for RhINOS is based around reaching out to parents and offering the opportunity to enroll while mothers are still in the mother-baby unit after delivery. When adapting the study for recruitment in Missouri, Maternal Fetal Medicine stood out as a centralized location for many expecting parents, so the project adapted so that the Early Years team could approach mothers during their prenatal visits.
“There is a natural synergy between Early Years and Dr. Beversdorf’s work on the BioNexus project,” Dr. Sheinkopf added in his reasoning for working with Maternal Fetal Medicine. Both studies are contingent on recruitment at the earliest stages of development and have a common goal of ultimately gaining insight into early identification of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Despite their shared recruitment source, the eligibility standards vary between the two studies. Early Years has its sights set on the general population. “We’re looking to recruit a broad group of parents to participate,” said Dr. Sheinkopf. “Most newborns will be eligible for this study.”
The BioNexus study will be recruiting from a narrower subset of patients at Maternal Fetal Medicine: Black and African American women. As a historically marginalized group, these women of color are underrepresented in research. They are also at a higher risk of experiencing stress factors during pregnancy. Dr. Goodman echoed the need for this nuance in research. “The association between mental well-being and pregnancy-related outcomes is particularly evident in our most vulnerable populations, those patients of color.”
“Clinical partnerships go beyond the research relationship,” Dr. Nowell said of the experience she had working with South Providence Pediatrics. Working closely with providers and staff at other practices creates opportunities to discuss when a child should be referred for an autism evaluation and a deeper understanding of the Thompson Center’s processes and services. “We now have advocates there.”
Muckerman explained that recruitment for REACH has already made an impact on the clinic at the Thompson Center. “Many of the participants that screened positive have joined our waitlist,” she said. “They are starting on a path to receive services.”
Dr. Stephen Sheinkopf presented on current trends in autism research as part of the NextGen Precision Health Discovery Series in August. His lecture featured highlights from his experience with studying infant cry, including the Early Years study.
Students in several disciplines presented their research at the annual Student Poster Showcase
Several Thompson Center researchers attended the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Meeting in Austin, TX in May, including Dr. David Beversdorf and a group of graduate students. Left to right: Matthew Prendergast, Taeseon Woo, Dr. Beversdorf, Carrina Appling, Candice King, Nanan Nuraini.
