Adulthood and Aging in Autism
Autism is a lifelong condition, nevertheless, research has focused on childhood to the relative exclusion of young, middle, and older adulthood. This research program is focused on better understanding adulthood outcomes (e.g., quality of life and community participation) in autism, including individual (e.g., co-occurring physical and mental health conditions) and environmental (e.g., social support) factors that contribute to them.
Coping, Compensation, and Resilience in Autism
The majority of autism research focuses on deficits or challenges autistic people experience. However, equally important for improving outcomes and informing approaches to optimizing outcomes is understanding ways that autistic people cope with and compensate for their challenges. This line of work focuses not only on social compensation (e.g., "masking"), but also non-social compensation including ways that autistic people cope with executive function challenges and variable sensory stimuli in a wide array of environments.
Eating-Related Behaviors
We are studying the cognitive and neural underpinnings of eating-related behaviors, including selective/‘picky’ eating and overeating/eating in the absence of hunger, in both neurotypical and autistic individuals across the lifespan.
