Studying Understanding Without Speech: Neuroimaging Minimally Speaking Autistic Individuals

• By: Isaiah Tien Grewal Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare LEND Fellowship Program Morgan D. Barense University of Toronto | Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Hospital Karen Chenausky, PhD, CCC-SLP MGH Institute of Health Professions
• July 9th, 2026
• autism research, dyspraxia, fMRI, HD-DOT, language comprehension, minimally speaking autistic individuals, neuroimaging research, nonspeaking autism, Summer 2026 Issue
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Minimal speakers (MS) represent one-third of the autism spectrum, yet only 2% of autism research participants (Russell et al., 2019). Research conclusions based on people unlike minimal speakers in significant ways may be skewed, leading to profound misunderstanding. We aim to correct...

Lessons From Listening to a Typer: Stony Brook Medicine School of Social Welfare Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (LEND) Fellowship Program

• By: Isaiah Tien Grewal Stony Brook Medicine School of Social Welfare LEND Fellowship Program Michelle S. Ballan, PhD School of Social Welfare; LEND Program, Stony Brook University
• July 9th, 2026
• augmentative communication, autism education, autism research inclusion, interdisciplinary training, LEND fellowship, neurodevelopmental disabilities, nonspeaking autistic individuals, self-advocacy, Summer 2026 Issue
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Director's Perspective It was July 2022, and I had just finished my first year as the Director of the Stony Brook University Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (SBU LEND) Program. Invited to present on the Research Panel for the I-ASC Motormorphosis...

The Work Before the Work: Lessons From Co-Designing Assistive Technology With Nonspeaking Autistic People

• By: Sofya Gektin University of Virginia Sajad Sarlaki University of Calgary Grant Blasko University of Washington Kristen Gillespie-Lynch College of Staten Island & The Graduate Center of the City University of New York Isaiah Tien Grewal Stony Brook Medicine School of Social Welfare Vikram Jaswal University of Virginia Sujit Kurup Autism National Committee (AutCom) Chandra Lebenhagen Including Autism Graciela Lotharius Georgia Perimeter College Elizabeth MacNeil University of Alberta Kyle Stauber Caroline Rose Tallungan University of Virginia Lisa Vallado Washington Adventist University Diwakar Krishnamurthy University of Calgary
• July 9th, 2026
• assistive technology, augmentative and alternative communication, autism research, autonomy, co-design, motor planning, nonspeaking autistic adults, Summer 2026 Issue, typing to communicate
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"I still struggle to put into words what it felt like to finally communicate in a personal, voluntary, and unscripted way. I've described it before as a prison door opening, but it was even more profound than that – more freeing, more life-changing." – Lisa, nonspeaking co-author For...