Autism Research at Kent (ARK) is made up of academics and clinicians working in the School of Psychology and the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent with shared research interests. The goal of our research is to gain a fuller understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), especially how it affects social communication, visual attention and everyday functioning.
The findings will be crucial to identifying the specific verbal and non-verbal elements that are impaired in people with ASD, and to guide us in developing new methods to enhance social understanding and function.
We are currently running experiments with people across the range of the Autistic spectrum, asking questions, such as:
- How do people with ASD process imagined worlds?
- How can care pathways be improved for people with ASD who are detained in hospital?
- How do things like context within a conversation impact on social communication in people with ASD?
- What is the relationship between understanding our own mental states and other people’s mental states?
If you have ASD, are a carer for someone with ASD, or if you know someone else who might be interested, we’d like to invite you to join our mailing list by signing up.
We will keep you informed of any upcoming research that you, or someone you know, may want to take part in; events relating to ASD that we are involved in in the local area; and details of our latest research publications.