Green burial focuses on the interment of the body of a dead person in a fashion that supports decomposition so that the body can be naturally recycled. Green burial has grown exponentially within the past ten years and are now offered by hundreds of providers across the U.S., making it an increasingly popular alternative to conventional funerary customs, such as casket burial and cremation. While recent research has explored the conditions under which the green burial industry has become normalized and competitive, and the types of predictors of green burial support, we know little about the experience of participants and the characteristics of green burial ritual. To what extent have funeral participants internalized the industry’s goals of conservation and fostering an emotional bond with nature? Do green burial rites reinforce community among the living as with conventional funeral rites? Or does the ritual appeal mostly to participants sympathetic to environmentalism? To answer these questions, I conducted ethnographic interviews with green burial workers and participants and observations of green burial rituals. The results of my study furthered our understanding of the green burial as a growing social movement and new meaning making enterprise and revealed how supporters derived distinctive meaning within green burial.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a profusion of archaeological discoveries in Egypt which led to the period being dubbed the 'Golden Age' of Egyptology. While much of this archeological activity is tremendously important and well-known, less known yet equally significant are the personal histories of those present in Egypt during this time. The letters of Helen Winlock, wife of the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Expedition, provide an intimate window into daily life and thought in the context of early twentieth century excavations. From bugs in the food and exploding furniture, to racially prejudiced observations of the locals and the difficulty of finding formula for a newborn child in the desert, each of Helen's many letters sheds light on the quotidian and mundane aspects of life in this often-sensationalized period. Her writings demonstrate the intersectiosn of race, gender, and colonial power in this time and place, as Helen's comments about herself, other women, and other peoples around her demonstrate the complicated politics of knowledge in this 'Golden Age' created and maintained. As a research intern in the Emma B. Andrews Diary Project, I have transcribed dozens of Helen Winlock's letters. Working from scans of the original handwritten letters, my role in transcribing these letters is a foundational first step in the process of creating digital editions of these documents, which will include versions encoded in XML, following Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines. This will facilitate the investigation of the archive using computational methodologies. Our team includes faculty, students and librarians from multiple departments across the University of Washington. This interdisciplinary and collaborative digital humanities project seeks to make a wide range of unpublished or inaccessible primary sources from the period freely available to scholars in an online format. 

This project examines what legal writings from ancient Rome reveal about the political ideology, social values, and power dynamics in Roman history. I focus on these concepts through analyzing selections from two sets of speeches given by Cicero, a politician, loyal proponent of the Roman Republic, and philosopher educated in both Latin and Greek. Additionally, I explore the scholarship on Roman legal history to provide supplementary cultural context. The sociopolitical climate of the late Roman Republic was tumultuous. Near the beginning of Cicero’s political career, he gave a set of orations, In Catalinam, to the Senate that accused Catiline of conspiring against the consuls. Much later, Cicero tried to keep the Republic alive after Caesar’s assassination and accused Mark Antony of being disloyal to Caesar by wanting to create an empire. This urge to defend the Republic prompted Cicero to write his Philippicae to attack Mark Antony. These orations ultimately resulted in Cicero’s death, as Mark Antony wanted, and the Republic ended. My research compares Cicero’s In Catilinam 1, 2, and 4 and Philippicae 4, 5, and 14: both sets involve murder plots, denunciations of powerful men, and the senatus consultum ultimum decree for Republican emergency. Specifically, I analyze how Cicero uses oratory to convince the Senate to declare Catiline and Mark Antony as public enemies. This process reveals elements of Roman sociopolitical culture, such as values, threats, and legal procedures, and follows these differences in this short, but crucial, time period in Roman legal and governmental history. Furthermore, it demonstrates the complexity between the government and the conflicting political ideologies during the late Roman Republic. Thus, through detailed analysis of these selected passages and their wider contexts, I explore how the Catilinarian and Philippic orations use references from Rome’s earlier history to adapt to, and reflect, their particular moments.

Traditionally, scholars of ancient Greco-Roman culture have focused narrowly on the lives of elite Greek and Roman men, failing to capture the experiences of non-elite men, women, slaves, and the indigenous populations that came into contact with Greeks and Romans. In fact, these groups together composed the majority of the ancient populations. This project asks if archaeological evidence related to food can illuminate how indigenous peoples reacted to Greek and Roman colonization. It takes as its case study the ancient site of Jerash (in what is modern-day Jordan), which during the second century BCE to the second century CE experienced a period of rapid growth, development, and colonization from the Greeks and then Romans. To answer the research question, the project collects and analyzes data from existing archaeological reports, focusing on food infrastructure such as market facilities and items associated with feasting and banquets across nearly all social strata. It then puts this archaeological evidence into dialogue with recent scholarship on colonialism in the ancient Greco-Roman world. The preliminary results of this research provide evidence of indigenous populations responding to colonization by assimilation. For example, excavated burial goods related to drinking parties are similar to those found elsewhere in the Greek world, and the food market is similar to Roman food markets of previous centuries. These findings, though not comprehensive, show that Greco-Roman practices related to food, introduced into ancient Jordanian culture during colonization, remained even after the period of colonization. Further work includes expanding the data set, as additional scholarship concerning floral and faunal remains from Jerash is forthcoming. 

Although curable, tuberculosis (TB), remains a global health threat. The long (6-9 months) daily antibiotic regimen is one of many challenges for patients and providers in completing treatment. Patient-centered innovative strategies are recommended that promote self-management and support during TB treatment. The World Health Organization endorses mHealth, mobile devices facilitating health information/services, as an under-explored area of potential patient-centered strategies. To help address this gap, Dr. Iribarren with her team iteratively developed a mobile application (app) with end-users and experts. 42 patients underwent pilot testing in Argentina, randomly assigned to use the app or not. The app includes daily medication tracking, symptom tracking, a paper based test-strip to detect the presence of drug metabolites in urine and resources surrounding treatment and disease processes. In addition, the intervention supports interactive communication with the participant and the treatment coordinator, a registered nurse. As an honors student, my goal is to gain insight on how the 20 patients assigned to use app are engaging through qualitative analysis of the interactive communication within the text-intervention using Atlas.ti. A codebook was iteratively built to classify the types of interactions and define with representative quotes. The main participant themes surrounded questions on side effects and medication, reinforcement of good compliance and reasons for not reporting. The relationship between codes are described, for example, the nurse inquiring about missed report(s) triggers a patient response. To understand how experience in treatment affects usage quantitative analysis compared codes by month in treatment showing higher occurrence trends during first two months. This research will inform further refinement of app, with stakeholders in mind. The goal of understanding the communication themes is to suggest areas where adaption to the app could improve ease of use and support for participant while decreasing the burden to treatment supporter through automated responses where appropriate. 
 

This study investigates the ways in which parents consider and rate their child’s temperament in relation to the ways in which their child interacts with them during play. Participants were typically developing children (TD, n = 26) ages 2-5, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 25) ages 2-12, and children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD, n = 18) ages 4-9. Attentional focusing was assessed with a parent-report child temperament questionnaire; child’s age determined which Rothbart Childhood Temperament Questionnaire was given (for example, the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire for ages 3-7). Play sessions were unscripted, free play time between the parent and child with a consistent set of toys (M = 14.4 minutes, SD = 2.8). The number of child attention switches (to a different toy, person, or object) was coded from video. Preliminary results indicate that parents rated TD children as more attentive in comparison to children with ASD and FASD based on the attentional focusing score from the Child Temperament Questionnaire (p< .001). There were fewer attention switches during the play sessions by TD children in comparison to children with ASD and FASD (p<.05). There is no significant difference in either of these measures between children with ASD and FASD. There is also no correlation between parent-reported attentional focusing scores and the observed number of attention switches. These results suggest that TD children demonstrate more attentiveness in both parent-reported and examiner-rated measures. Children with ASD and FASD were not distinguishable from each other based on parent report or direct observation of attention. Overall, attention should be considered as a contributor in a child’s interactions with their environment, relationships to others, and further growth and development.

Homelessness rates among the adolescent population have steadily risen over the past decade, and homelessness is shown to be correlated with a variety of detrimental outcomes. Though prior studies of this population have focused on participant recruitment as well as the representativeness of samples, there has been little work regarding designing survey content to optimize participant honesty, retention, and willingness to divulge often sensitive details about themselves. As a part of a larger investigation on youth/family engagement with homelessness prevention services, this research project uses youth focus group responses to explore how, in conducting surveys, questions can be worded to increase the likelihood of obtaining an earnest and accurate response. We used data from six focus groups across two locations to gather information from housing instable adolescents. The focus groups presented example research surveys and asked participants to provide responses on whether the survey items were well-received and easy to understand, among other factors. Through a grounded qualitative analysis of the responses provided, we determined that there are topics that have a high probability of causing confusion and therefore reducing construct validity, or that may cause participants to become guarded because of their sensitive nature. To address these issues, we recommend phrasing questions to be unambiguous by being hyperspecific—for example, asking how often caretakers give praise for good deeds rather than a general question about pride in their children. We also suggest phrasing topics likely to evoke either a strong positive or negative emotional response in a more neutral manner or, when they are not strictly relevant, eliminating the questions altogether—for instance, instead of asking about whether someone is seeing a counselor directly, which could be a source of stigma and shame, asking instead about whether they have a professional that they can trust with their personal issues.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the presence of repetitive patterns of behaviors and deficits in social communication and interaction. Attention to social information is a key component of the development of social communication. Previous studies used eye tracking to examine visual scanning patterns associated with social attention in children with ASD and neurotypical children. Eye tracking is used to both identify the atypical patterns of social attention and to predict clinical outcomes in ASD. Although atypical eye gazing patterns are considered as potential biomarkers, researchers commonly consider data loss in eye tracking as error or noise, and rarely investigate it more thoroughly. In this proposal, we hypothesize that loss of data is a potential signature of core social motivation issue when a social video is playing, and, rather than being a nuisance variable, which reflects the broader continuum of social attentional-motivational challenges faced by individuals with ASD. We used eye tracking to confirm previous findings on atypical attention patterns, and further utilize behavior coding to examine the three types of causes of data loss including blinking, non-compliant behaviors, and technical error. We hypothesize that data loss due to blinking is associated with a lack of social motivation and that data loss due to non-compliant behaviors is associated with executive function. Social motivation and executive function were measured by parent reports. Exploring data loss in eye tracking may help reveal comprehensive and fundamental factors of diminished social motivation and neurocognition in ASD.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive, debilitating, neurodegenerative disorder where patients lose their ability to think and carry out tasks. This disease is characterized by aggregation of the β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide. Cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are derivatives of marijuana which have been shown to possess neuroprotective properties. Experimental work in this field, is limited in its scope when probing mechanisms driving the phenomenon of Aβ peptide aggregation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used to understand the intra-peptide interactions and potential impact of cannabinoids. In order to understand the effects of cosolvent structure on the mechanism of amyloid aggregation, we used classical molecular dynamics simulations of Aβ derived switch-peptides in the presence of model cannabinoids (i.e. CBD and THC). Aβ peptides transform from functional peptides into beta-sheets and therefore impact function within the brain. We tracked beta-sheet formation as a function of time to understand if cannabinoids sterically inhibit interactions between and within peptides. Preliminary results indicate that CBD and THC demonstrate a trapping effect on aggregated peptides. The impact of synthetic cannabinoids are much less understood, prompting additional interest in investigating the interactions among these molecules.

Executive function (EF), a broad term for an individual’s higher-order cognitive abilities, has been shown to be an important factor in proper development of play in childhood. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been noted to score significantly lower on tasks requiring EF and are often noted to engage in more simplistic levels of play compared to typically developing peers. We investigated within-group associations of average play level for children with ASD, as observed during parent-child play sessions, in relation to parent-reported EF scores, as measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). Participants with ASD (n = 28, age = 3-11 years) and participants with typical development (n = 27, age = 2-7 years) engaged in a video-recorded, 15-minute unscripted parent-child play session. Blind coders determined the child’s level of play, ranging from object manipulations to pretend play, on a numeric scale of 1-13. The highest level of play was coded at each one-minute epoch of engagement using Behavior Observation Research Interactive Software. Participant’s play scores were averaged and analyzed with their BRIEF scores using Pearson’s correlations. Results indicated no significant correlation between average play level and the BRIEF working memory, planning, and inhibition subscales, with Pearson’s correlations ranging from less than .01 to 0.03 (p > 0.8). Likewise, for participants with typical development, there was no correlation between average play level and BRIEF global composite scores, with Pearson’s correlations less than 0.01 (p > 0.9). Our current analysis did not account for parental support of the child’s play, which may contribute to why parent-reported EF scores did not relate to child play level in these unscripted parent-child play sessions. Future directions include examining the relationship between EF and play in children with other developmental disabilities.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a disorder characterized by social and communicative impairments. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, particularly those who are older, display internalizing behaviors more frequently than typically developing children. These behaviors are mainly characterized by negative feelings and occur at higher rates in females than males in children with ASD, however, the specific rates in each subgroup, such as anxiety, depression, or somatic complaints are less understood. This study will aim to explore the gender differences and the impact of the following factors on internalizing behaviors in children with ASD: (1) Participant medication use (for behavioral issues), (2) symptoms of depression/anxiety in parents of participants, (3) environmental factors such as family composition and household income. 161 participants, aged 8-18 (90 boys, 71 girls) from the ACE GENDAAR network, a four site NIH funded project investigating gender differences in children with ASD, were included in the study. Additionally, all participants met ASD criteria on ADOS-2 and via the ADI-R. Parents of participants completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), answering questions about their child’s internalizing behaviors. Parents also completed the ACE Medical History (medication use) and the ACE Demographics (environmental factors) questionnaires. We hypothesize that girls with ASD will score higher (worse) across all internalizing behavior symptom categories. We also expect to see correlations between the use of medication by participants, depression/anxiety reported in parents of participants and internalizing behavior symptoms. The data from this study will not only improve our understanding of specific internalizing behaviors associated with girls and boys with ASD but will also provide insight into the effects of various medical and environmental factors affecting children with ASD.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental and neurological disorder characterized by difficulties in communication and social domains. Previous research highlights that involvement in organized community activity has shown to have positive effects on social and emotional adjustment in youths (Bohnert et al., 2019). Meeting early language milestones strongly indicates positive language development in individuals with ASD. Better early language development may foster interactions with peers, promote a sense of belonging, and may make it easier for parents and children with ASD to participate in community activities. 
This study explores the relationship between early language milestones (age at first words, age at 3-word phrases), current social milestones and current language level. 105 youth (f=42; m=63), ages 8-17 years with from the ACE GENDAAR network, a four-site NIH funded project investigating gender differences in children with ASD, were included in the study. ASD diagnosis was confirmed via standardized measures of autism symptoms (ADOS-2, ADI). All included participants completed the DAS-II to measure cognitive skills, with a score of ≥70 on the Verbal domain. Parents completed the ACE medical history and ADI, which assessed early language milestones. Parents also completed the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) and rated their child’s activity involvement in sports, hobbies and group organizations and completed a measure of social adaptive skills. We hypothesize that there will be a positive correlation between meeting early language milestones, social involvement, and language development in children with ASD. That is, children with better early language, will have better later language, better adaptive skills, and will be more likely to participate in community activity. This study may help us learn more about the implications of early language development in children with ASD and how it impacts later abilities to participate in the community.     

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by having persistent deficits in social interactions, as well as social communication impairments with restricted, repetitive behaviors. Past researchers have found that another characteristic of individuals with ASD tends to be higher rates of aggression compared to other developmental disabilities; a research study found that 68% of individuals with ASD in a sample of 1,380 children had a history of directed aggression. Due to the variety of measures that have been utilized to define aggression, there is a large amount of unexplored variability in the relationship between ASD and aggression. Social awareness is defined as an individual’s ability to cognitively understand reactions to different social situations and effectively modify these reactions to achieve beneficial social communication. Past research has found a strong correlation between high social responsiveness and low aggression, but this has not been widely studied in a population with ASD. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between decreased social awareness and rate and type of displayed aggressive behavior.150 children, aged 8-11 years participated in the study, focusing on late elementary school. All participants met the Autism diagnostic criteria on the ADOS-2, a child-clinician interaction that measures a child’s social, repetitive behaviors and communication skills. Parents completed the Social Responsiveness Scale, which includes scales of social awareness and cognition, as well as standardized measures of aggression. We expect to see a negative correlation between the rate of aggression and social awareness such that children with ASD who are reported as lower in social awareness will have higher reports of aggression. This research will help to understand why aggression rates are high in this population and may inform social skills and school based interventions for children with autism aggressive behaviors.

 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs an individual’s social, communication, and behavioral skills. These impairments can significantly impact an individual’s mental health. Puberty is a period in an adolescent’s life when they experience physical, social, and emotional changes. Adolescents are also especially vulnerable to these changes due to the potential disjunction of physical and cognitive systems maturing at different rates. Unfortunately, little is known about the effect of pubertal development on the mental health of individuals with ASD. The goal of this study was to investigate patterns in anxiety and depression rates across individuals with ASD during the stages of puberty. The study included children between the ages of 8 and 17 with a confirmed diagnosis of ASD via standardized measures of autism symptoms (ADOS-2 and ADI). Participants or their parents completed the Pubertal Developmental Scale (PDS) which asked seven sex-specific questions and provided a score of the child's physical progression through puberty. Parents also completed the Subject Medical History Form, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Child & Adolescent Symptom Inventory-5 (CASI-5), a self-report questionnaire to identify signs of psychiatric disorders. We explored the relationship between states of pubertal development and prevalence of anxiety and depression between pubertal groups (pre/early/mid/late/post). We expected to find an increase in anxiety and depression rates in adolescents and individuals who are in the early-post stages of puberty relative to those who are pre-puberty. Additionally, we compared rates of anxiety and depression of children with ASD to their siblings as an environmental control. We expected anxiety and depression rates to be higher in children with ASD compared to their siblings. Investigating the relationship between pubertal development and anxiety and depression can help us better understand risks for mental health concerns in children on the autism spectrum.

Tracing the lineage of individual cells within a multicellular organism has been one of the key struggles of modern developmental biology. The ability to trace the differentiation of individual cells over various timescales would give extensive insight into many fields of biology. Techniques using large scale genomics based on natural DNA mutations have been used in the past. However, in recent years, novel techniques using CRISPR-Cas9, and more recently recombinase, have been developed to study cell lineage in a more precise and dynamic manner. Each of these methods have different specifications in their readout methods, time-dependent resolution, spatial integrity, and accuracy. I have constructed a review summarizing these methods, and will present their impact on dynamic cell lineage tracing. While most of this research has been done in animals, I will also propose a design for cell lineage tracing in plants based on these reviewed methods.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that causes challenges with speech and nonverbal communication, social interaction and repetitive behaviors. It is hypothesized that ASD is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors such that symptoms and behaviors present differently between individuals. Given variability in causes and symptoms of ASD, it is important to look at the effectiveness of treatments for individuals with specific genetic and behavioral profiles, including individuals with rare genetic mutations linked to ASD. Recommended treatments include biomedical, behavioral, speech, and occupational therapies, which can be expensive and time consuming for families. Speech-language therapies and other services can be provided through a school district or through private providers, but the effectiveness of these services for individuals with rare ASD-associated genetic mutations is currently unknown. The aim of this project is to compare satisfaction with school-based versus private speech-language therapy for individuals with mutations to DYRK1A or SCN2A, which are associated with ASD and language delay. In this study, participants included individuals with a disruptive mutation to either DYRK1A (n=28, ages 4-24 years) or to SCN2A (n=23, ages 3-21 years). Treatment history interviews will be analyzed to assess caregivers’ perceptions of treatment effectiveness. We hypothesize that there will be greater satisfaction with private speech-language therapy than with school-based services, as these services may allow for greater communication and coordination with parents. We also hypothesize that satisfaction with speech therapy will be highest in the DYRK1A group, as increased medical complications in SCN2A (e.g., severe seizures) may lead to reduced response to speech therapy. This study will contribute to better understanding of effective treatments and parents’ satisfaction with current services for individuals with rare genetic mutations associated with ASD, which may inform future treatment choices and recommendations.

Sports-related concussion data in high school, collegiate, and professional athletes is well documented. However, limited data exists in the middle-school-aged population. The purpose of this study was to better understand the mean number of diagnosed concussions among 9 to 14-year-old football and soccer players. Prior to the Fall 2019 season, 262 athletes from two youth sports leagues in the Greater Seattle Area self-reported all prior diagnosed concussions. Overall, a small percentage (20.61%) of athletes reported at least one previously diagnosed concussion (1 concussion, n = 45; 2 concussions, n = 7; 3+ concussions, n = 2). There was no significant difference in concussion history among athletes of the three sports. Football (n = 120), boys’ soccer (n = 71), and girls’ soccer (n = 71) reported a mean (SD) of 0.28 (0.57), 0.32 (0.77), and 0.14 (0.35) concussions, respectively. The mean number of diagnosed concussions was highest in boys’ soccer, then football, and lowest in girls’ soccer. Our results were different when compared to another study which shows that the concussion rates per 1,000 athlete exposures were highest in football, followed by girls’ soccer, and lowest in boys’ soccer. These results show that the number of youth concussions may be different among football, boys’ soccer, and girls’ soccer. Further research could provide a better understanding of concussion diagnoses in youth sports.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by disruptions in social, behavioral, and communication behaviors. Meeting early language milestones has been identified as a strong predictor of positive language outcomes individuals with ASD. Females, compared to males, show better early cognitive and language functioning, including high risk infants with and without ASD outcomes. Less is known about language trajectories in females with ASD, as they often make up a minority of research participants. In this study, we want to evaluate the relationship between early language milestones and youth language and communication ability in a sex balanced sample with ASD. The project included 137 youths, 60 females and 77 males, from ages 8-18 years with ASD. To assess language, parents reported from the ACE Medical History, which reports on age at first words and age at 3-word phrases which were confirmed with similar items in the ADI. The participant completed the CELF-4, with analysis focusing on the subdomains Recalling Sentences and Formulating Sentences, and the parent completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior (Communication Domain). Our preliminary analysis demonstrated significant differences by sex in early language milestones as well as relation to later better language ability as a youth. Age at first words was related to later language, but only in females with ASD; while age at 3 words was related to later outcomes for males and females. It is important to understand how language develops different in males and females with ASD and being able to recognize risk factors at a young age for more accurate intervention.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is commonly associated with deficits in social, adaptive, and communication skills. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that impairs functioning. Previous research estimates that between 30 and 50% of individuals with ASD manifest ADHD symptoms. Although research has shown that individuals with ASD tend to have decreased community involvement, it is not well studied in individuals who have co-occurring ASD and ADHD. The current study explores the relationship between social or community engagement (involvement in organizations, sports, organized group activities) and adaptive skills of individuals with ASD or ASD+ADHD. Participants included 110 youth (m=66, f=44), 8-17 years of age with ASD from the ACE GENDAAR network, a four-site NIH funded project examining sex-based neural differences in children with ASD. All participants included in the sample met ASD criteria on standardized autism assessments (ADOS-2 and ADI-R) and scored ≥70 on a measure of verbal IQ (DAS-II). Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) reporting on child activity (involvement in sports, organizations, hobbies, chores), ADHD symptoms, overall behavioral problems, and overall competence. Parents also completed the Vineland-II, a parent interview assessing adaptive skills. We hypothesize that there will be a positive correlation between social activity involvement and adaptive skills. That is, children with more community participation will have better adaptive ability. Furthermore, we expect that children with ASD+ADHD compared to children with ASD only, will have greater impairment in adaptive skills and will score lower on the activities scale. The results of this study will provide further understanding of ASD+ADHD and barriers to children participating in community activities and organizations.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a disorder that is characterized by difficulty in social communication, social skills, and repetitive behavior domains (Sachak, 2016). One of the most prominent features in children with ASD under 3 years of age is delays in language development (Sachak, 2016). This project aims to examine language development in the first year after diagnosis in a sample of preschool children with ASD and to examine family and child demographic characteristics that account for variability in language development. Preschool aged children with ASD (N=59; 7 female) and a matched sample of typically developing (TD) children (N=48; 10 female;) were enrolled in a study of attention and emotion regulation. At enrollment (T1), autism was confirmed using the ADOS module 1 and standardized assessments were done to quantify communication ability (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales), nonverbal (visual) reasoning (Mullen Scales of Early Learning), expressive and receptive language (Preschool Language Scale), and self-regulation and executive functioning (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning). The PLS, VAB, and BRIEF were repeated at +6 months and +12 months. We hypothesize that: (1) TD children and ASD children who received language interventions will show greater improvement in functional language skills over the first year compared to ASD children ; and (2) children in families with higher household income or education level (one or more parents with college education) will show greater improvements in functional language skills over the 1 year period. Early childhood represents a critical time window for language interventions in order to support functional/adaptive skills and create greater positive outcomes for children with ASD.