Recruiting families with children with autism

[Guest guest]

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Dear Parent(s):

My name is Chin and I am a Ph.D. student in the Combined

Clinical and School Psychology program at Hofstra University. I have

worked with children with autism and disabilities for the past seven

years. I am currently working on my dissertation and am requesting

your assistance.

I am seeking help from families of children with autism, from the NY

metropolitan area as well as from Long Island and New Jersey, to

investigate children's early responses to their natural environment. I

hope to observe those responses by viewing families' home videos. The

purpose of this study is to compare the early behavior in children

with autism to those of typically developing children, and thus to

ultimately identify early indicators of autism. It is my hope that as

we learn more about the developmental difficulties of these children,

we will be able to provide more improved and timely services for

families in the future.

To participate in this study, you should have home movies of your

child during infancy from six months to two years of age. I would

appreciate your allowing me to copy these videos so that I can study

them. I would also need to interview one parent about your child and

to assess your child's current behavior. This process will include an

adaptive behavior assessment of your child.

If you are interested in participating or would like more information,

please call me at (516) 330-6769 or contact me by email at

kchin2@..., at your earliest convenience. Thank you for

your consideration.

Sincerely,

Chin, M.A., NYS Certified School Psychologist

Ph.D. Candidate in Combined Clinical and School Psychology Program

_______________________________________________________

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

INFORMATION SHEET FOR RESEARCH STUDY

The following requirements will be requested:

1. A phone conversation with Chin to determine whether or not a

family qualifies for the study and would be willing to participate.

2. Families will provide home videos of each child participating in

the study. The videos need to be taken from when your child was six

months old until two years of age. The family may choose to duplicate

the videos themselves, or have Chin reproduce the copy and then

return the original tapes to the family.

3. Chin will review background information of each child (e.g.,

date of birth, diagnosis, significant events) and conduct an

evaluation, which will consist of an interview in which parents will

be asked to describe their child's current adaptive behavior, and/or

observation of your child. All interviews will be arranged to take

place at a time and location convenient for each individual family.

All information obtained will be kept strictly confidential. You will

be given a consent form to review and to sign if you agree to participate.