In May 2025, students from the AEL presented their research at an Autism Event hosted by BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Students also travelled to Seattle, Washington to present their research at the 2025 International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Meeting.
Counselling Psychology student Naureen Sikder presented a talk at the BCCH Autism Event titled “Establishing Therapeutic Alliance with Autistic Clients During Video Counselling: A Qualitative Study.”
Counselling Psychology student Shahrzad Motaghedi presented a talk titled “How do Autistic Students and Their Parents Experience School Connectedness During the Transition from Grade 7 to 8 in Mainstream Schools?”
Developmental Psychology student Jade Stobbart presented her Master’s thesis research in a talk titled “Gaze Patterns of Autistic and Non-autistic Children Across Social and Non-social Dynamic Scenes.”
Postdoctoral researcher Behnaz Bahmei and Clinical Psychology student Meryssa Waite presented a poster at INSAR titled “AI-Based Auditory Intervention for Autistic Individuals with Decreased Sound Tolerance: Improved Comfort in Virtual Reality and Community Settings.” This research is a part of the lab’s Sound Sensitivity Project. You can view this poster here: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16005.05603
Meryssa presented a second poster at INSAR titled “First-Hand Accounts of Autistic Students’ Experiences in Work-Integrated Learning.” You can view this poster here: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26071.38568
