The Congressional Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) awarded Dr. Pamela Rollins a $2,744,321 grant for her four-year project titled Meeting the Needs of Young Hispanic Autistic Children: Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Sensitive Intervention to Alleviate Core Social Challenges. This project intends to address the critical gaps in early autism intervention for Hispanic children, specifically those from low-income backgrounds, who often face barriers related to language, culture, and access to services.

The main goal for this project is to create a modification of the Pathways parent-mediated early autism intervention, called CLR-Pathways, considered for Hispanic families. Additionally, this project will assess the impact of mutual gaze procedures in refining social communication skills, which is an underlying challenge for young autistic children.

Dr. Rollins’ research in this project addresses the need for more successful autism mediations, as Hispanic children are underrepresented in intervention studies and face significant educational and health gaps. By developing a culturally fitted method to early intervention, this project has  the potential to expand outcomes for the population of Hispanic autistic children, with extensive effects for autism research.

The findings from Dr. Rollins’ project will contribute to advancing relevant approaches in autism care, addressing a critical need in Texas and nationally.