Current Studies
If you are interested in participating in any of our current studies, please reach out to us at lunalab@umassmed.edu.
IEP Project
Looking for: Caregivers of children ages 3-22 who have an autism diagnosis
What you would do: Submit an IEP and complete surveys on satisfaction with your child’s IEP.
Purpose of this study: Our research seeks to understand the nature of educational inequity for students with ASD by exploring the impact of developmental category, symptom severity, race, culture, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on the special education services provided to students ages 3-21. The study is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese (Cantonese/Traditional characters).
Gender Study
Looking for: Children ages 9-12 with a formal Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis and their parent/caregiver.
- What would you do:Participate in a virtual interview about gender identity, complete a short gender conceptualization task, and complete a couple of demographic and identity surveys. In total participating in this study should take about ~75-90 minutes.
- Purpose of this study:Our study aims to understand how autistic children ages 9-12 conceptualize gender identity. Little is known about the development and conceptualization of gender in autistic children, and as understanding and developing gender are key developmental tasks, this will be the first known attempt to better understand these processes for autistic children.
Contact: Please email crehanlab@tufts.edu if interested.
Let’s Make a Match
Let’s Make a Match is a research study aimed to test a Dating Coach training program. The study starts with a matchmaking event for autistic adults and then matched couples will be assigned a trained Dating Coach for the duration of the program.
To learn more and complete our screener, please see links below for potential daters (e.g., autistic adults), and potential coaches (any neurotypical welcome!).