The Groden Network directs and supports comprehensive research as a part of its mission to assist children and adults with autism, developmental disabilities, and behavioral challenges to lead productive, dignified, and satisfying lives. We have partnered with world class researchers in Italy and New Zealand, on development of a “talking hand” that allows autistic individuals to create speech via hand gestures and with UC Irvine to create “mindfulness” that can help us regulate behavior. These are just two of the projects that Chief Clinical Officer, Cooper Woodard, Ph.D. and his team are engaged in that honor the hallmarks of innovation, creativity, and functionality begun by Doctors June and Gerry Groden.

Research findings are disseminated through scholarly publications (e.g., books, book chapters, journal articles), presentations at scientific conferences, and teaching activities via seminars and workshops.

Current Research Projects

• A Longitudinal Study of Positive Traits for Persons with Autism and Developmental Disability
• A Comprehensive Program to Promote the Reduction of Restraint Usage in a School for Persons with Autism and Developmental Disability
• Treatment of Stealing Behavior in a 16-Year-old Male With Autism
• A Comparison of Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism and Developmental Disability on the Stress Survey Schedule
• The Effects of Mindfulness Training of Teachers in a School for Children with Autism and Developmental Disability

Recent Publications

The Groden Network is pleased to announce that our most recent research project, "The Stress Survey Schedule (SSS): Trends and Normative Data on a Sample of Children with Severe Autism and Related Developmental Disabilities," has been accepted for publication in Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

This research project was co-authored by Dr. Cooper Woodard, Dr. Janette Baird from Brown University, research assistant Kaitlyn Anderson, and Dr. June Groden. The purpose of this project was to examine and make use of the many Stress Survey Schedules (SSS) that had been completed over the last 20 years at The Groden Center. The Stress Survey Schedule, created by Dr. June Groden, is designed to identify and rate areas of stress. We used the SSS's at The Groden Center to create normative data (average scores that others could compare their SSS scores against) and we found that individual stressors remain fairly constant for younger children but begin to change as a person enters young adulthood. Our plan is to further this research by looking into how stressors change as a person with autism ages into adulthood.

Read the full paper: https://lnkd.in/e4xUh6-Z