A lot of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities have trouble with conversations in their daily lives and would like help to make those conversations go better. But it can be hard to figure out where the problems come from and how to help. Researchers at the University of Maryland in College Park are creating tools that speech therapists and their adult clients can use to look more closely at their conversations and figure out what to work on. Our team is excited to share what we have learned from our experiences – and all the questions we still have! – about how to improve communication between people with IDD and those with whom they seek to connect.

Sorrah Edwards-Thro (he/they) is an autistic, multiply-disabled person studying to become a speech-language therapist at UMD. Motivated by his own experience with masking and burnout, he focuses on supporting autistic people with (self-)advocacy. They bring this insight to their work as a student-clinician and curriculum developer in UMD’s Neurodiversity and Autism Transition Services (NATS) Social Interaction Group Network For All (SIGNA) program, as well as their research on the Autistic Conversation Analysis Toolkit (ACAT) and Interactive Tool for Empathy in Neurotypicals (INTENT) projects. Sorrah received the CAPCSD Frances J. Laven Service Award in recognition of his dedication to building solidarity with other disabled people, especially the most marginalized among us.

Shevaun Lewis is an Associate Research Professor at UMD and Director of the UMD Autism Research Consortium. She has a PhD in Linguistics, and has studied how children learn language and how people use language in conversation. Growing up with an autistic brother sparked her lifelong interest in autism. Today, her work focuses on communication between autistic and non-autistic people, and creating tools and practices to make schools and workplaces more inclusive of autistic students and employees.