LSI establishes autism research and training center

The Life Span Institute welcomed its 13th center in April with the launch of a new bi-campus autism research and training entity the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART) supported by private and public funds.

The multidisciplinary center will support research and training on the causes, nature and management of autism spectrum disorders. Debra Kamps, a senior researcher at LSI’s Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, will direct K-CART. Matthew Reese, a child psychologist and director of the Center for Child Health and Development at the KU Medical Center, will co-direct. Linda Heitzman-Powell, a Juniper Gardens and KUMC researcher, will direct the LSI Autism Training Program. This new initiative of the center is partially funded by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to train providers to support the state’s first Autism Waiver Program. The ATP will also train others as autism specialists, respite providers and family support providers through a tiered curriculum.

KU and the KU Medical Center will initially jointly fund the center with seed money of $1 million for five years in part to support intramural pilot projects to attract younger researchers to autism research. Other private support allowed the initiative begun in 2007 to become a permanent center.