WELCOME TO THE MARQUETTE AUTISM INITIATIVE

The Marquette Autism Initiative (AI) is an interdisciplinary group of researchers, clinicians, stakeholders, and students at Marquette University and in the community.  We aim to coordinate 1) research, 2) programming, 3) education, and 4) outreach efforts to improve the lives of people on the autism spectrum* and their families, while providing high quality training and educational opportunities for the next generation of professionals serving this population. Our work is anchored in the knowledge that collaboration across disciplines is best practice in the world of autism care and research, which simultaneously provides inter-professional, team-, sensitivity, and knowledge-building educational experiences for undergraduate and graduate students. We are funded via a 2018-19 Explorer Challenge award from Marquette University’s Office of Research and Innovation.

*Note. Many self-advocate adults on the autism spectrum indicate a preference in favor of utilizing the term “autistic” to describe themselves, rather than “person with autism.” However, some family members of people on the autism spectrum, and medical professionals, think the term “person with autism” is appropriate. In deference to the multi-faceted, debated topic of identity and labelling, on this website we will utilize a compromise term, “person on the autism spectrum” or “person on the spectrum.” See http://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/identity-first-language/ for more information on this topic.