Current and Past Research Studies

Current Studies

Social and Emotional Insight in Girls and Boys with Autism

Swing set at Camp Kinney

There is growing evidence that girls and women with autism who are verbally capable are often undiagnosed, diagnosed very late, and/or mis-diagnosed. This study experimentally examines social and emotional insights exhibited by girls and boys with autism. The goal of this project is to better understand whether or not there are differences in social and emotional insight in girls versus boys with autism, compared with typically developing girls and boys. This information will then be used to improve clinical diagnostic interviews to help ensure that girls with autism are identified and supported in ways which are most helpful and effective.

Collaborators: 

  • Hunter Mattern, SJU psychology graduate student and Kinney SCHOLAR
  • Dr. Julia Parish-Morris in the Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 
  • Dr. McCleery, Executive Academic Director Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support

 

Academic, Social-Emotional, Adaptive Functioning, and Quality of Life in College Students

Student in Music Class

Several research projects have been designed to experimentally examine the academic, social, emotional, and daily living skills experiences of college students with autism. To accomplish this, retrospective academic progression and grade point average have been collected and compared for college students with autism, college students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and college students from the general population. Data on social, emotional, and daily living skills, and quality of life from the populations, is also being collected using standardized online questionnaires. The goal of this project is to better understand the college experience of people with autism. This information will be used to improve college support programming to ensure that people with autism are as successful, comfortable, and satisfied with their college experience as possible.

Collaborators: 

  • ASPIRE College Support Team at the Kinney Center for Autism
  • Dr. McCleery, Executive Academic Director Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support

 

Virtual Reality Police Safety Intervention Community Engagement Project

Many people with autism struggle with social and communication skills, which can make getting through an unexpected interaction with police officers challenging. This project is designed to obtain meaningful input from people of color living in urban areas, which will be used to improve a police interaction training program. Individuals will be exposed to Floreo’s Police Safety Module Virtual Reality Intervention, and provide feedback in the form of questionnaires and qualitative interviews. The feedback will be used to improve the technology for people with autism in their communities. The goal of this project is to better evaluate and understand potential sticking points and barriers to successful interactions between these two groups. This information will then be used to improve the training of both people with autism and police officers, using virtual reality programs, in order to increase the safety and effectiveness of these interactions.

Collaborators: 

 

Virtual Reality Bicycling Exercise Intervention for Adolescents and Adults

Dr. Cheryl George, Associate Professor of Special Education, and Dr. Elizabeth Becker, Associate Professor of Psychology, conducted a collaborative research study to examine the impacts of virtual reality bicycling on cortisol levels and behavior for the Kinney Center’s adult day program learners. The results of this study showed benefits of virtual reality bicycling on both biology and behavior in the learners, which in turn provides direct evidence for the impact of this clinical program.

Collaborators:

 

Virtual Reality Police Safety Intervention Project

$1.7 million in NIH funding was secured to conduct an R&D project designed to develop and test a novel virtual reality based intervention for improving the ability of adolescents and adults with autism to interact safely and effectively with police officers. The team successfully developed the intervention product and completed a high quality study showing that the virtual reality program is safe, feasible, and highly usable for individuals with autism. The results of this study were published in a highly respected peer-reviewed autism research journal in 2020. The team is currently preparing to submit the results of a randomized controlled trial which indicate that the virtual reality intervention program is effective at improving police interaction skills for people with autism. The research team also secured additional NIH funding for this line of research in the form of a Minority Supplement Award (2019) and a COVID Supplement Award (2020), and are in the process of completing a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the virtual reality intervention distributed through teletherapy.

Collaborators: 

  • Dr. Julia Parish-Morris in the Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Dr. Judi Miller in the Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Floreo, Inc.
  • Dr. McCleery, Executive Academic Director Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support


 

Past Studies

Quality of Life Project

ASPIRE student

Autistic self-advocates, family members, and community organizations have called for greater emphasis on understanding and enhancing quality of life for people with autism. To do this effectively, it is important to have good methods for measuring quality of life in those with autism, as well as how quality of life unfolds across the lifespan. Dr. McCleery served as a collaborator on a study conducted at the Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in which the team developed and tested a battery of online questionnaires designed to measure quality of life in children, adolescents, and adults with autism. The results of this study showed that the method of measuring quality of life was feasible, effective, and acceptable for each of these populations. The results also indicated that people with autism exhibit a lower quality of life than the general population. The results of this study were published in a highly respected peer-reviewed autism research journal in 2020. This study provides the basis for measuring quality of life effectively in studies designed to test the impact of interventions on quality of life in people with autism now and in the future.

Communication Intervention Project

Counselor with student and Ipad

There is significant potential for high-tech communication technologies, including Android-based and iPad-based picture and speech communication apps, to provide an effective means for nonverbal and minimally verbal individuals with autism to communicate with others. Prior to joining the Kinney Center, Dr. McCleery established a clinical R&D collaboration with researchers at the National University of Ireland, Galway. For this project, they co-developed an app-based communication intervention and conducted two randomized controlled trials examining the impact of this novel, android-based communication intervention in schools for children with autism in Ireland. The findings of this study indicated that the intervention program was effective at improving critical communication skills for nonverbal and minimally verbal children with autism, and the results were published in a highly respected peer-reviewed autism research journal in 2018. The team is currently preparing to submit the results of the second randomized controlled trial, which also indicates that the developed intervention is effective.

Aerobic Exercise Intervention for Children and Adolescents R&D Project

 

Aerobics at Camp Kinney

While an Assistant Professor at the University of Birmingham in England, Dr. McCleery collaborated with graduate student Tash Elliott and Lynn Kern Koegel at Stanford University to conduct an R&D project designed to develop and test a school-based aerobic exercise intervention program for older children and adolescents with autism and other special education needs. The team developed an intervention program based on modifying existing evidence-based practices, and then conducted two Randomized Controlled Trials in a school for children with autism and other special education needs in England. The results of these two high quality studies indicate that the aerobic exercise intervention program was effective at engaging the students and resulted in reductions in stress and increased abilities to exhibit self-control and modulate their attention. The results of these studies have been presented at conferences in the United States and Japan, and are currently being prepared for submission for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. Dr. McCleery continues to conduct R&D projects on the topic of aerobic exercise intervention for children and adolescents with autism in the Kinney Center, although these projects are currently on hold due to the COVID pandemic.