Grants>Autism

Autism Speaks Request for Applications: 2012 Baker Summer Camp Grant Cycle

March 5 - Deadline for applications at midnight EST

Program Funding

Autism Speaks Baker Summer Camp Program will select eligible camps to identify scholarship campers and offers up to $5,000 in scholarship funds for campers with Autism Spectrum Disorder to attend a summer camp.

Request for Application

Camp Scholarship Fund applications must be submitted electronically using the Autism Speaks Online Grant System. Applications that are late, incomplete, or do not adhere to the required format will not be reviewed.

Camp Eligibility

All Camps providing a summer camp program to financially disadvantaged individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder are eligible to apply for a Camp Scholarship Fund through the Autism Speaks Baker Summer Camp Program.

Scholarship Camper

Camps selected to participate in the Camp Scholarship Fund are responsible for selecting Scholarship Campers. A Scholarship Camper has: 1) a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2) is financially disadvantaged, and 3) through camp participation has the opportunity for individual growth and development.

Final Evaluation Report

Selected Camps will provide a detailed accounting of the Camp Scholarship Fund. Camper and family evaluation of the Scholarship Camper's experience is provided to Autism Speaks.

Review Committee

Autism Speaks recruits members for the Autism Speaks' Baker Summer Camp Program Review Committee. The national committee will be composed of families affected by autism, individuals with autism, and autism professionals. The Committee reviews eligible applications and selects camps to receive a Camp Scholarship Fund.

The Review Committee reviews and ranks applications based on the following criteria:

1. Overall camp program design and available activities
2. Approach to serving individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
3. Camp offers a wide ranger of opportunities for inclusion of campers with autism with age-appropriate peers
4. Location of the camp is readily accessible to underserved communities
5. Camp staff is provided with training in Autism Spectrum Disorders
6. Camp administration has a clear, fair, and easily documented process for selecting Scholarship Campers
7. The Camp has matching funds available for the 2012 Camp Scholarship fund.

Camps will be reviewed based on the information presented in the online application.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of Interest include but are not limited to a pre-existing relationship between a Camp and a Member of the Review Committee. All conflicts must be declared at the beginning of the process. Anyone with a conflict of interest is not permitted to review the declared application.

All recommendations made by the Review Committee are based on information presented in the online application.

Camps We Have Funded

Since 2010, Autism Speaks has awarded scholarships to more than 630 campers at 99 camps across the country through the Autism Speaks Baker Summer Camp Scholarship Program. All camps in the U.S. that provide a summer program to financially disadvantaged individuals with autism were eligible to apply.

Autism Speaks encourages individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder to contact local camp organizations in order to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Autism Speaks Request for Applications: Treatment Research Grants: Full- and Pilot-Level 2012 Cycle

Letter of Intent due: February 23, 2012, 8:00 PM Eastern

Autism Speaks invites both Full- and Pilot-Level Treatment research grant applications to conduct innovative clinical studies of novel interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) throughout the lifespan. These may include medical approaches including complementary and alternative forms of health care and pharmacological treatments, as well as behavioral and/or psychosocial interventions, and evaluation of the efficacy, safety or therapeutic benefits of all types of interventions. Also appropriate are animal model studies that test the effects of novel compounds for reducing autism symptoms.

For all RFAs, Autism Speaks is focusing on a set of targeted research priorities for 2012. All treatment study projects will be required to demonstrate direct relevance to at least one of these targeted research priorities:

1. Understand environmental risk factors and their interaction with genetic susceptibility to enable prevention and improve diagnosis and treatment

2. Discover biomarkers that can improve risk assessment and subtype stratification that will allow for an individualized approach to treatment

3. Improve quality of life through more effective medicines, behavioral interventions, and technologies

4. Enhance diagnosis and treatment of underserved and under-studied populations, specifically,

• Nonverbal persons with ASD
• Ethnically-diverse and/or low resource communities
• Adults
• Those with medical co-morbidities

5. Disseminate and implement evidence-based clinical practices to the broader community worldwide

IMPORTANT: The relevance of the proposed research to ASD and Autism Speaks’ research priority areas must be explicitly described in the Letter of Intent (LOI) and full application.

Awards
Autism Speaks will make a limited number of treatment research grants determined by the available financial resources.

Full-level research grant
1-3 years
$150,000/year maximum

Pilot-level research grant
1-2 years
$60,000/year maximum

Autism Speaks utilizes a web-based application system for their grant submissions. All applications must be submitted through this system. It is imperative to indicate whether the submission is for the Full- or Pilot-Level Treatment research option.

Research Inquiries
research@autismspeaks.org

International Mosaic Down Syndrome Association Student Research Scholarship

The International Mosaic Down Syndrome Association is a non-profit organization designed to provide
support, information, and research to those touched by mosaic Down syndrome. To increase the number
of studies on mosaic Down syndrome (mDs) and Down syndrome (Ds), we will be offering two $500 scholarships to master’s level students studying mosaic down syndrome or related topics.

Applications will be accepted twice a year (September 15th and March 15th) and awardees will be selected within one month of the application deadline (October 15th and April 15th). Two scholarships will be awarded in each 12 month period.

Topics for research are not limited to mDs, but can include studies on individual clinical features of mDs
(ie. atrioventricular septal defects, autism, thyroid disorders). Chosen students will gain access to members of IMDSA for use in their research. All studies involving IMDSA families require IRB approval.

Scholarship funding is expected to be used at the awardee’s discretion for research expenses. Awardees
may also apply for an additional $250.00 award to fly to and from our biannual conference to collect data, present data, and get to know the families at IMDSA. Exceptional projects can apply for a second year of funding.

At the culmination of the funding period (1 year), awardees are expected to submit a brief report on the progress made in their research. This report can be replaced by a journal publication.

You can stay up to date on this and other activities of IMDSA by visiting our website http://www.imdsa.org. Also available on our website is a list of principle investigators looking for students to carry out a research projects on mDs!

Application material and questions should be directed to:

Brandy Hellard
brandy@imdsa.org