Waisman Communications
Leann Smith, PhD, Waisman Center investigator and associate scientist, is one of ten recipients of an autism treatment study grant from Autism Speaks—the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism. Smith received the grant to support a pilot study that will test the effectiveness of “Transitioning Together,” an adolescent-and-family intervention for reducing stress and improving coping strategies during the transition to adulthood. The pilot grants from Autism Speaks are for up to $60,000 a year for up to two years of support and are aimed at bringing new investigators into the autism field and jump-starting research on novel treatments.
Smith’s project grows out of her collaboration with Marsha Mailick Seltzer and Jan Greenberg in their 12-year longitudial study of the families of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders. The results of that study have been translated into this intervention study, on which Seltzer and Greenberg are collaborating with Smith. For more information about the Transitioning Together Study, click here.