Summer Projects

ASD-CARC Summer Trainees: This summer ASD-CARC in Kingston was fortunate to be able to welcome a number of student volunteers and Summer Work Experience Program (SWEP) students to the team. The SWEP program allows students to learn about their subject of study, while offering them the unique opportunity to contribute to the Queen’s research community. ASD-CARC is grateful to have employed all of this summer’s trainees from various disciplines bearing many different talents. The funds for these positions come in part from donations to ASD-CARC to “Train the next generation of researchers and clinicians” and to teach students about ASDs. Each of this year’s students has a keen interest in Autism Spectrum Disorders, and spent the summer working on a number of different projects related to their studies and our overall research. 　

Summer Projects (2010): See below to learn more about what each group of students worked on:

Translation: Two students, Kayla and Susan, were involved in this exciting initiative to translate many of our online materials into French and Chinese. They have translated information on the ASD-CARC website and numerous questionnaires that will be crucial for extending our research to other populations, giving us a more global perspective on ASD. These new sites will be up-and-running soon in 2011.   

Autism Across the Lifespan: Two students, Lisa and Dhiviya, worked on our longitudinal study, Autism Across the Lifespan. New questionnaires were selected to fill in gaps in information we collect, and we have worked on a series of questionnaires dealing with environmental factors. These will be posted in early 2011. This information will complement the research that ASD-CARC has done in the genetics field to form a more complete picture of the characteristics of autism.  

Psychology: Our three summer psychology students, Alana, Laurel and Mary, were busy phoning families who have joined our Research Registry requesting copies of diagnostic reports and completed questionnaires to confirm the ASD diagnosis of all our research participants. The psychology students also mailed genetics kits, following up on those that had been sent and requesting missing information to keep our records up to date. It was a special treat for the students to speak to family members about their interests and their families. 

Mobile Lab: Our mobile lab student, Eric, was very busy this summer working to bring our research to families in Ontario! He assisted Dr. Jessica Ward in studies examining brain waves and where the eyes are looking when participants look at photographs on a computer screen. He also had a lot of fun with the Sniffin’ stix, which were a big hit for the children!

Genetics Laboratory: The two trainees who worked in the genetics laboratory were Chelsea and Felix They have backgrounds in biology and helped with extracting DNA from the genetics kits and doing some of the genetics tests. Chelsea is planning on going into Genetics Counselling – prior to her summer working with us, she volunteered in the lab. Her experiences have convinced her that working with families discussing genetics and risks are her future and she will be very good at this.

Computing: Our computer students, Anthony and Graham, were involved in the ongoing task of modifying our database, using their problem solving skills, to make the storage and retrieval of questionnaire and genetics data easy and efficient. In addition to their day-to-day responsibilities, they were the on-call tech support for all of our other students! They were called upon to remedy everyday technical difficulties and to lend guidance to those who are less computer-savvy.  

Last updated January 2011